


When the Force Chooses to Meddle

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 13:32:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7575859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke is exploring, seeking more knowledge to better teach his students. Maybe he should have coaxed the artifact on Dantooine to be more specific about what kind of help it could offer. Then again, look at the chance he now had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the Force Chooses to Meddle

**Author's Note:**

> One of two time-travel AUs that we have written, this with one person going into the past. The other is complete and will likely be posted next Sunday.

In the few years since the twins' birth, opening the Praxeum on Yavin, Exar Kun's defeat, and current events, Luke Skywalker had found a fair number of strange, unusual, and sometimes disturbing things. When he'd found a reference to a different kind of lightsaber crystal, deep in the Dantooine caves -- and, possibly more importantly, an ancient temple there -- he'd decided to go and investigate. 

Tionne could keep the Praxeum running as smoothly -- or more so -- than he could, and he was curious. He'd been to Dantooine before, it was where he'd met Gantoris (and the thought of his young, murdered student and friend still ached deep in his chest), but he hadn't explored much, then. He and Artoo made almost lazy spirals around the planet, Artoo's sensors searching as he let his sense of the Force stretch out, attuning himself to the swelling surge of the planet, trying to find... something. He knew the Empire had probably scoured this planet a hundred times, that trouble here dated back to Exar Kun's first reign, if not before that. 

Anything that had survived would be very deeply hidden indeed... but then again, he had long since learned that the Force had a definite intent of its own. He was seeking knowledge and help, seeking ways to help his students better understand and serve the Force, ways for them to hold steady against the myriad threats in the galaxy, not seeking to destroy, not seeking power. Perhaps that would be enough to -- 

\-- something tugged at him, light and gentle, and he turned the X-Wing, following it. 

+++ 

The 'something' turned out to be a cave entrance hidden behind a waterfall from a river that had been powerfully diverted, in an era a very, very long time ago. He left Artoo with the X-Wing, his hand brushing lightly over the dome as he reassured his dear friend that he'd be back soon, and ducked through the frigid torrent a second time. The cave ceiling was high enough for him to walk easily, at least, and his lightsaber cast more than enough light. 

This part of it was entirely natural, cut by either previous water or wind... but as he walked, ducked under low-hanging portions, and slowly went lower, the natural state of the cave changed -- or, more accurately, he pulled himself up an outcropping, crawled a few meters through the low space, and dropped back down into what was _definitely_ the work of sentient hands. Appendages, anyway, Luke amended the thought as he looked around in the light thrown from his re-ignited 'saber. He couldn't see far, but... 

...what he could see was impressive, but more than that, there was what he could _feel_. Somewhere in this place, this -- this Temple -- some artifact of the Force remained. He closed his eyes to get a sense of where and then opened them to find the route. He disturbed creatures as he went, rockbats and denning cleft-mice, skittering insects of several varieties, but nothing attacked him, or even threatened, until he was far deeper within. 

There was a growing presence, or group of them, as Luke pressed forward. A sense of forbidding kept intruding on his mind, interspersed by the feeling of… of what he had faced on Dagobah. Evil, malign influences that warred with the presences trying to stop … him? Them? 

Luke took a slow, careful breath, and sank himself into the steadying power of the light side. He had precious little luck against the presence of Sith spirits, though at least he had managed to learn from each of those he faced -- and not what they would have preferred to teach him, either -- but he had to be cautious, here. Cautious and wary, but those other presences... other ancient Masters? "Peace to you, elders," he said softly. 

The forbidding sense eased some, before they focused fully on him, a pressure of Force sensing more intense than he'd felt from any other Light Force user. It was easily as powerful as the Emperor trying to probe his defenses, but with duty, not malevolence, behind it.

It eased quickly though, and those presences turned outward, turning the Sith unquiet away from Luke.

Well, whatever they'd found, they must have approved of him. Luke took a breath and continued forward until he came to a completely blank cul-de-sac. Nothing there, nothing on either side... but the Force hummed beyond the wall, which meant there had to be a way through. He attuned himself more yet to the Force, to the currents and demands of it, closed his eyes, and searched for the way through. 

The texture of the wall was smooth all the way around, giving no hints. Slowly, though, his sense guided his fingers to touch the wall in one place, and press the palm of his hand against another spot. Distantly, he heard a mechanism before the supposedly seamless wall shifted away to permit him entrance.

He stepped through carefully, lifting his lightsaber above his head to throw the light a little farther, looking around. In the center of a small chamber, on a chest-high plinth of some kind, a pyramidal object the length of his forearm on each side glowed a soft, faint white. 

As Luke focused on the device, the white light seemed to pulse just a little, taking on a rhythm that was like a very basic breathing exercise, inviting Luke to watch it with hypnotic steadiness. A small voice in the Force called to him, offering the device as a way to help others, if he but came and touched it.

"Artoo," he said into his comm, drawn towards the object but thinking of his friend as well, "I found something -- yes, I'm sure it's okay. It's all right. I'm just going to take a closer look." 

[Be careful. Cannot reach you.] The droid fretted every time Luke was out of reach.

The artifact pulsed a little more strongly, whispering gentle offers of aid, of helping make things right, glowing with the Light Side.

"I will," Luke promised before he closed the comm again and moved to the artifact, centering himself before he laid his hands on either side of it. As soon as he did, the light expanded all around him as a wave of power overcame him, knocking him to his knees… and the world seemed to wobble around him.

When everything steadied, Luke felt as if the Force was being thrown and pulled in a multitude of directions around him, that there were large scale deaths occurring somewhere, and… his own mind felt empty of something.

Not something. Some _one_. 

The presence in his mind that had been a constant for over a decade. His first student. 

His sister, his beloved twin. His Leia. 

He couldn't feel her at all. 

It wasn't just the distance between Dantooine and Coruscant. She _wasn't there_. 

Fear for her filled him, and he grasped onto the Force, flinging his awareness outward, calling out to her through their blood-link, their twin-bond, and simply their shared Force. :: _Leia!_ ::

Silence answered. Long silence, and he called again, louder, throwing more of himself into the part of himself where his twin's presence should be, :: _ **Leia!**_ :: 

Nothing, again, and instead of Leia this time he reached for the twins, knowing them as well he knew her. He'd shared a soul with Jacen for a time, if anyone could hear him past whatever this was, it was -- 

\-- and there was no answer there, either. Not Jacen, not Jaina. Not even Anakin's infant presence. 

++++ 

Elsewhere, scattered through the galaxy, Jedi Knights and Masters and Padawans alike felt a pressure unlike any they had ever known. Far away on the _Resolute_ , one such Knight actually had his knees buckle as a blinding headache took him over, and the Padawan with him rushed to help.

Much closer, though, one Master caught hold of that pressure, feeling it was close enough to him to investigate.

"Arsix, change of course," he told his astromech, feeding him the general galactic direction they needed to head in, his tentacles waving with excitement. It could be a threat; it might be new hope. Either way, Kit Fisto was up to the challenge.

++++

He couldn't sense his twin, couldn't reach her mind or his niece and nephew... but Luke Skywalker refused to believe that anything could have killed all of three -- no, six, for Han and Chewie and little Ani were with Leia the last he knew -- of them. So the problem was with him, or with the situation. 

Leia was **fine**. 

She had to be, he would feel her in the Force if she -- she was fine. The twins were fine... it was whatever-had-just-happened that was the problem. 

The Force was so... so _busy_ , so active, tugged in hundreds, no, thousands, of directions... his head swam and he pulled back into himself, lifting his comm. "Artoo?" 

Nothing. 

"Artoo!" 

Nothing, again, and he turned to leave the chamber, picking up a flat run that tapped the Force for more speed as soon as he was into the flat corridors. 

When he burst out into the open, he had to skid to a stop… no X-Wing, and the terrain looked… different. It took a minute to determine how, but the trees seemed smaller, and the color of the vegetation looked off, as if the season was earlier or later than he recalled from when he went inside.

No Artoo. 

For Luke, who hadn't been without the feisty, determined little astromech for any length of time in more than ten years, that hurt every bit as badly as the echoing emptiness in his heart where his sister wasn't. That his X-Wing had suddenly gone missing, he could accept easily enough -- it was only a ship, after all, if an old friend -- but Artoo... Artoo was his best friend in some ways, partner and ally and clever guardian. 

Having him suddenly gone... Luke felt bitterly, painfully alone. 

He stood still for several moments, just breathing, making himself accept the feeling, understand it, and put it aside into the Force. 

Whatever had happened to him, Artoo was safe on Dantooine with his X-Wing, and he would -- somehow -- get back to them. "Hopefully before Artoo worries himself into a meltdown, Skywalker, since you're the one that told him everything would be fine." 

Sometimes, his discussions with himself sounded disturbingly like Mara Jade, he realized, and shook his head slightly. 

The Dantooine he had left had been home only to the few scattered native people, survivors of Daala's murderous assaults, with their simple way of life... was that so here, as well? 

Luke reached out, searching with the Force for the particular mental 'touch' of sapient life on the surface with him. 

There was a slightly larger feeling of population, though still scattered and no great concentrations as far as Luke could feel. There seemed to be a quiet here, in the Force, unlike the various other pulls he could feel on it.

He could travel towards one of those populations, attempt to make some more rational sense of what had happened to him -- he had no more than had the thought than the Force thrummed at him, warning him away from that course. 

All right. So he would stay here, possibly go back into the cave and Temple to see what he might find, if the artifact might tell him something more than that there was a chance for him to learn, here, and wait for whatever it was the Force had in mind. He had ration bars, a purifying canteen, and his lightsaber, he would be fine for a while. 

++++

Kit didn't frown as he landed near the old temple on Dantooine, but it was not his favorite place to be. There were old whispers of dark times inside there, yet the Force presence that had impressed itself on his mind was definitely there.

"Arsix, keep the ship prepped, just in case, my friend," he told his astromech, getting a wary warble of compliance before the Master turned his steps to go inside. He braced for the Sith dead, and made it clear to the Jedi guardians that he was truly Jedi, and pressed on inside. The violence that threatened him from the Sith was met by the long-dead Jedi guardians, who acknowledged his right to walk the halls.

His eyes adjusted to the dim light, only resorting to igniting his lightsaber once even his adaptations failed him. Someone had been here ahead of him, he could smell that, and not too long before... someone strange to him. 

Luke had been sitting in front of the now-quiescent artifact, meditating, when he felt the sudden presence of a powerful Force user set the local Force to rippling like a stone thrown in a pool. He considered leaving the chamber, decided not to, and -- very gently -- closed the opening again. 

What happened when the stranger found a blank cul-de-sac would tell him a great deal. 

Kit's olfactory sense could not be easily fooled, so when he came to a dead-end passage, he did not immediately believe he had wasted his time. His eyes used the more than ample light of his lightsaber to study the small space, looking at the blank walls. When he could see neither dust-prints (for there seemed to be no dust here to betray passage) nor a true seam, he opened his awareness to the Force a little wider.

Ancient Force manipulations had crafted this place, much like some of the vaults in the Archive, he realized. With a care to where he placed his hands, he matched the precise pattern the Force suggested to him, fingertips in one place and palm of his hand in another. How a non-humanoid might open it was something beyond his kenning, but the Force recognized his right to be here, and the wall began to move precisely.

That was a Light Side Force user, at least, Luke knew as the stones began to move. Definitely a relief, a very serious relief, and he uncrossed his legs to put his feet down, rolling his shoulders to relax them as he waited. It didn't take long for it to open, and he blinked once as he saw the stranger. 

Not a familiar species to him, at all. Tall, broad-shouldered, multiple head-tails or tentacles with large, very dark eyes, a mouth that appeared to smile above a strong jaw. The Force impression was masculine, but Luke knew better than to trust that immediately. A lightsaber floated, ignited, in the air next to the stranger's head... and he wore robes very similar to Ben's usual attire. Luke had never adopted them, more comfortable in what he'd chosen... 

"Hello," he said, mildly, figuring it was as good a start as any. But who was this, and why Jedi robes, and -- 

Kit Fisto had entered and taken in the stranger with only a small surprise. The scent had been unknown to him, so why should the face be anything but? He sized up the Force presence immediately; very powerfully in the Light, but… scarred? Yes, scarred by Dark Side influences. 

And then the human was speaking. He did not seem to be garbed as any Jedi Kit had ever seen, but the lightsaber sung with attunement to the man that carried it.

"Hello," Kit answered. "Am I remiss in believing that artifact has some exertion over your presence here?" he asked with a calm, genial voice. He'd always had more luck with starting on a light, positive note.

Luke blinked once then had to chuckle, shaking his head. The stranger's voice was slightly accented, but it was pleasant, easy to listen to, and somehow... soothing. "Not remiss at all, no. It's entirely why I'm here -- and very certainly not my favorite object in the galaxy at the moment. 

"I've been attempting to convince it to reverse _whatever_ it did, but it seems entirely inert now." 

"Hmm." Kit walked closer, unafraid, but not threatening, so that he could see it more clearly. When it did not immediately register as anything he knew, he pulled out his comm unit to fully image it and the pedestal it had been on. Something in the Archives might answer those questions. "Oh, how rude of me. My name is Master Kit Fisto. And you are?"

"We both were," Luke replied, after a moment where hearing someone calmly, lightly claim 'Master' left him absolutely disconcerted. It still bothered him, sometimes, to do so, when he knew so little, had had so little time with Yoda and Ben, but... someone had to teach the others. Someone had to keep the Order alive. "My name is Luke Skywalker... Knight, I suppose."

Kit sensed an unease in this stranger, but that had very little bearing on his thoughts. That name had far more.

"Skywalker? Truly?" Kit seemed almost amused to Luke, and he was certainly smiling as he said it. "Well, Knight Skywalker, it seems the artifact does not wish you to reverse its choice at this moment, and there is no longer an archive here. Perhaps we would best be served to leave it safely in this place and take the images I gathered to the Archive on Coruscant?"

'The Archive on Coruscant'. 

His own mind repeated the words at him two more times before he was actually certain he'd heard them correctly, and only by leaning on the plinth did he stay on his feet, a more profound shock sweeping through him. He'd seen the younger plant life, the different season, the change in population on the world, and thought that perhaps he was on a different Dantooine. That one of those assorted pasts and futures had somehow touched him -- 

\-- but he hadn't dared think about the galactic impact. Funny how those few simple words rearranged everything he thought, gave him a sinking certainty about what had happened, and filled him with an almost wild hope and dismay alike... The Archive on Coruscant. Still present, still easily reachable by Jedi, still whole, when he had desperately hunted for any shards of it. 

Could he convince this Master to take him there? 

"You seem to be in shock, Knight Skywalker." Kit reached a hand out, offering it to steady the other man. "The Temple would be the safest place for any Jedi, even one who is not in his right time. As you, obviously, must be, as I know nearly every Knight's name, and while I do know a Knight Skywalker, you are assuredly not he."

Luke leaned on that strong arm, trying to find his calm, his center, even as Master Fisto's words slammed another wave of shock through him. He swallowed, using the years of keeping his thoughts from afflicting his students to keep himself from yelling into the stranger's mind. 'I do know a Knight Skywalker'... a _Knight Skywalker_. Not Darth Vader, there was no pain and grief or rage in Master Fisto's words. 

His father had not Fallen yet. His father was -- 

"In everything I've found, _literal_ time travel was never mentioned," Luke replied, trying for a dry rejoinder rather than allow himself to have hysterics, "only.... sight of the past and possible futures. I've had a few hours to wrestle with the idea, you're taking it... more calmly than I did. _Is_ it known, then?" 

"If you rule out the probable, is not the improbable the only course left?" Kit answered that question. "And there are legends of such, if you study the more arcane holocrons." He waited until Luke was steadier before withdrawing his hand, ignoring the tactile feeling of chaos, and the scent that implied such pain. "My ship is technically a one-seater, but I can hollow out enough space for an extra person… if you have the ability to enter the hibernation trance? Otherwise, I will have to call for assistance, and that might take some time; the fleets are most tied down currently."

"I've spent a lot of hyperspace voyages in hibernation trance -- okay, and after an accident or two;" Luke answered, his mouth quirking slightly at Master Fisto's response. 'The more arcane holocrons', as though every one they had managed to find was not impossibly rare and precious, "since it's far more comfortable than being awake. That's not a problem at all." 

/'The fleets'... the _Republic_ fleets. I -- oh, shades, Master, Father, Ben, what do I do?/ Somehow, he managed to keep the thought to himself. "I might be able to lend you a hand with making some space, depending on what you're piloting." 

Just so long as he didn't have to compress himself into a message pod, like Kyp had done to escape the Maw, he would be fine. 

"It's a Delta 7-B Aethersprite," Kit said. "Perfect for my moving between units to assist where I am needed, but not so much for passengers. Arsix and I make do, though." He turned toward the exit. "I do hesitate to actually remove that from this place," he added, motioning back at the artifact. "The Guardians and the Sith dead will do well to protect it from being found again, I am certain."

"No, you're right," Luke agreed immediately, "it needs to stay here. 'Guardians'," he repeated the word quietly, finding it entirely fitting for those powerful light side presences, then changed the subject. "A Delta 7-B. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything but blueprints for those, but I'll see what help I can be, anyway. I'm not the engineer Han is, but I get by." 

He deactivated his lightsaber -- he'd been using it as a glow rod as well -- and clipped it lightly back to his belt to follow the Master back up into the sunlight again. Or moonlight, if the sun had set while he was below. 

Kit left his lit for longer than he actually needed, but once they both had some light that was human-level good, he shut his lightsaber down and clipped it with ease to his belt. He then lifted his wrist to his mouth, speaking into the band there. "Arsix, reroute functions so I can dig the space out behind my seat; passenger coming with us."

A series of beeps acknowledged that, and Kit grinned wider for the droid's complaint of not liking having to shunt all functions to redundant systems. 

"Astromechs," Luke said, quiet and affectionate, ignoring the hurt lodged under his breastbone at that slightly different pitch and cadence of the binary, "never happy with that suggestion. I had to rig my X-Wing to carry double, once, and Artoo did not like it at all. 

"That was a bad trip all around, though." 

"An R2 unit?" Kit had to chuckle. "Interesting." He did not expound on it, but everyone knew of Anakin Skywalker's devotion to his little astromech. And, it was also true; Artoo usually lived up to the highest standards of bravery. "Nubian?" he inquired, curious. There was a strong proscription on Force legacies in the forms of children of current Jedi, but it happened sometimes.

"I have no idea, honestly," Luke replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly. 'Nubian'... There was a weight behind that question, but for the life of him, Luke couldn't figure out what it was. Leia had been to Naboo, a few times, and was fond of them for their opinions on everything from democracy to droid rights to that they still had a good relationship between the human population and the native Gungan people... but that didn't explain the weight. 

"Happens," Kit said, shaking his head. "Never had to deal much with them until the war; never used the same one twice, it seemed. But now, we're out so much, and the ships seem to work better if they stay matched to the same droid… Arsix has been with me a bit now, and he's something else. Others, they are much the same."

They broke out into the open, not yet even dusk, and headed straight for the sleek little ship waiting, astromech dome swiveling to scan them instantly.

Luke moved to where he could be a little more easily seen, calling a light, "Hello, Arsix," to the intent optic sensor turned towards them. "Yeah, my Artoo and X-Wings tend to get to full counterpart handshake before I wind up losing the ship... and then he complains for ten-days that he has to teach the stupid ship everything." 

Kit laughed. "That sounds like an R2 series I know," he told the Knight, still amused by the similarity he was finding between Skywalkers.

Only, Kit was certain he'd never felt Anakin be this relatively calm, or face a new, unknown situation with quite so much reserve. Then again, Obi-Wan was always the reserved one of that training pair. Sometimes, he did wonder at the match of Skywalker and Tano, both with their reckless and emotional streaks a meter wide. He leaped up easily on a wing and opened the cockpit, to begin disassembling everything he could to make space for his passenger.

Arsix helped by only occasionally warbling mournfully, or shrilly informing him 'no, not that'.

Luke hopped up on the other side to lend his hands and knowledge, falling into a quick discussion with Arsix on some of the couplings and how to move them at one point, trying to be careful not to step on the other man's toes, but he'd been ripping apart and rebuilding anything he could get his hands on since he was old enough to hold a hydrospanner. 

Kit watched him, and remembered a certain padawan who was apt to fall asleep in the Temple's garage if his Master failed to keep a close eye on him. There was no doubt in Kit's mind that this Luke was of some relation to Anakin.

"It must be a Skywalker trait to handle mechanical engineering so well," he finally said when they had the ship ready.

"Oh?" Luke asked, squirming himself down into the opened-out space. Any number of things bit into his shoulders and back, but he wouldn't notice that as soon as he was into trance. And sure enough, unlike Kyp, he hadn't had to break half of his bones to fit. "Piloting, yeah, I... used to hear that fairly frequently, but mechanics?" 

Kit gave him a look, curious, but decided to go with it. "Knight Skywalker is probably the best pilot, now that Master Plo Koon has ceded the title," he said, with a trace of laughter in his words. "But his love of tearing things apart and building it better had him much beloved by the Temple mechanics, and grumbled at, occasionally, by his teacher." He settled into his place as pilot, and sealed the cockpit, letting Arsix vet the systems as ready, before he took off to go dock with his ship's ring.

"...huh," Luke murmured, soft and thoughtful, intrigued at the thought of another similarity with the man his father had been. 'Much beloved'... really? If he was loved -- more than by just Ben -- why, _how_ , had he Fallen? "That... okay, question, and then I'll go into trance and stop putting extra tax on the scrubbers, but... what year is it, in Huttese reckoning?"

"Hmm, not a calendar I tend to use, but give me a moment." Kit plugged in the query in his computer, and then gave Luke the answer. "I think I had best ask you not to tell me your year, until we see the Council," he added.

" _Sithspit_ ," Luke swore, before taking a slow breath and nodding, "I think you're right. Actually, I'm certain of it. Right. Just say my full name to wake me, when we get where we're going? 

"I'm going to let the trance help deal with my complete freaking out," he admitted, took a breath, and started pushing himself under. He and Leia weren't even conceived yet, that year told him, let alone born. That... 

Kriff, kriff, _kriff_. 

Kit nodded, then settled in for the trip back to Coruscant. This was definitely going to be interesting.

++++

Ahsoka was not used to her Master just… crumbling. He was too stubborn to be unconscious when he ought to be, let alone just because the Force had gone ten kinds of weird.

At least she kept him from hitting his head. He was rock-skulled enough without shaking up whatever brain cells he did have that weren't obsessed with the War and Grievous.

"Master?" she tried, as 'Skyguy' hadn't helped much. "Master, you're scaring Rex; join us in the land of the waking!"

Rex made a noise at her for that, but he was … worried. He'd go with worried. Mostly because if Skywalker was out, that meant Ahsoka was in charge until another Jedi could reach them. Or so he reasoned.

Anakin reached one hand up -- it felt like he'd gotten it caught in a pod's energy binders, actually, most of his body felt like that -- to put fingers over the mouth making noise. Everything was too loud, too much, too intense, even his padawan's presence in the training bond, when it felt like every midichlorian in his body was ringing like an agonized, terrified bell with a single word. 

'Leia'. 

Who or what was a Leia, and who had been screaming her name through the entire galaxy? 

Ahsoka bit his fingers, mostly because she could, even if she didn't do it too sharply -- getting a very sharp growl that morphed into a whimper in the next moment -- and then sat back on her rump to look at Rex. "He's okay. He just needs a minute." She hoped she was right, but if he was coordinated enough to try to shut her up, he was doing better than she feared.

"Of course, Commander." Rex didn't move from his bodyguard stance though.

Trying to let her -- Snips, his Snips, his padawan -- know she needed to be quiet had only gotten him bitten, and that had set his nerves off in entirely new complaints. He took a breath, two, and carefully attempted slitting one eye open. Light hit him as though he'd been in a cave for a week, and he shut his eyes again. 

Hearing was a little better -- for some crazy reason -- and he said, carefully and softly, "...so, did that hit you, too?" 

"You mean the hugely loud Force bubble of LOST/SCARED/LOOKING?" she asked, and at least she did keep her voice lower, purposefully taking a deeper (her actual tone) pitch than the high-cheerful she tended to use. "Yes, I felt it, but I stayed on my feet."

"Nnn," Anakin protested quietly, though the lower pitch was a good thing, a little more soothing. "You didn't hear the name? Just the 'I need you, where are you?'?" 

"There was a name?" Ahsoka took pity on her Master then and shifted back onto her knees, grabbing at the training bond to feed energy to him, while resting her hands on his chest to try and coax it to help her Master recover quicker. Maybe he'd make sense then.

"Leia," Anakin answered, before focusing on the energy Ahsoka was feeding him, trying to use that and his own to get himself onto an even keel... and up off the floor sometime soon, preferably. "Whoever that is." 

"I'd like to know where it came from," Ahsoka said quietly. "No one should feel that lost, ever," she said with all that empathy that the Temple had failed to temper to less focused compassion. She then helped Anakin sit up when she felt his equilibrium balancing more before moving back from him. "Another mystery I'll probably never get the answer for, though," she said with a sigh.

He squeezed one of her hands, quick light move that was all pride in her empathy and care, before he pointed down and away. "That way. What planets are on that vector?" 

Ahsoka rose lithely and called up the galactic display, starting on the vectors Anakin had given, then using her own intuition and sense of the feeling to narrow in.

"Several, but what's scary? There's at least one ancient Jedi temple in the right path. Bet's something went kablooey near it?" Abandoned Jedi _and_ Sith spaces tended to be scary or weird. 

"Nobody on this ship's gonna take that sucker bet, Snips," Anakin replied, though he was almost entertained at the thought. "Which one? Never mind. It's Dantooine. Anyone's transponder showing close?" 

Ahsoka fiddled with the controls, ignoring Rex mouthing 'kablooey' at her, and grinned. "Master Fisto seems to be in that vicinity. He's not usually tied down with a unit, so he'll probably find out. Which means we'll eventually get the gossip. I mean, intel."

Anakin snorted, amused almost despite himself. "...maybe not. He _is_ a member of the Council these days...." 

Ahsoka just rolled her eyes. "He's buddies with Plo, who loves gossip. And he's sweet on Aayla Secura, so tells her all she is missing," his Padawan reminded. "So we'll get the scoop eventually. Unless, like, you were to go take your reports _personally_ to the Council on Coruscant, since it is mostly quiet here for now." She knew she was tempting him mightily, because of who else was on Coruscant, but she pretended it was all about learning what Kit might know. "I'm sure he'll take the information he learns to the Council first, after all."

Rex tried very hard not to look distressed at the idea of the General gallivanting off. The Commander was decent in a pinch, and it was quiet… which meant as soon as Skywalker was out of touch in hyperspace, they'd face a Tinny fleet on their own.

"I'm not going to take off and leave you, Snips," Anakin disagreed, no matter how much he wanted to go, to take the opportunity to get to Coruscant long enough to see his wife and find out what was going on. "We've already had too much of a break. 

"But what do you mean, 'sweet on'?" 

Ahsoka giggled. "There's a reason he finds any excuse he can get to help her troops out? And it's so funny, because her Commander is so protective of her, and she keeps yelling that she likes both," the padawan babbled, glad to help distract her Master if that would help him recover more.

"Bly would never be so unprofessional," Rex growled under his breath. "And General Secura is only ever as proper as the rest of the Jedi, barring you and your … shenanigans." 

Ahsoka stuck her tongue out at him, but waited to see what Anakin said.

Anakin stared at her for a moment, his eyes widening as he considered what his padawan had just said -- and color started coming up in his cheeks as he realized that Ahsoka was completely right. That _was_ what her lekku were saying, all of the time, when she wasn't deliberately paying attention to being still. He'd had a hard time at first, with the Twi'lek Jedi, because their lekku didn't match their words, and he'd mostly stopped paying attention because of it, but... 

"Oh, kriff, you're _right_ , she _does_..." 

"Yep! I usually am right," Ahsoka said over Rex's "well, first time for anything", leading to his impassive staring at her fierce glare. She decided to ignore them and then looked at Anakin, managing to give the impression of an offended lothcat so easily at their Captain. "Master, I just don't understand why the older Masters all have kittens over attachments."

Anakin sighed, raking his fingers back through his hair as he shrugged one shoulder. "Neither do I, Snips. Neither do I. 

"Which generally makes for them having kittens at me," he admitted, dry-voiced, "but that's a conversation for _not_ on the bridge. Rex, come lend me an arm so I can get off this deck." 

Rex moved and easily handed his general up, standing steadily there until he was certain his General was able to remain vertical. "I know my brothers only trust a _jetii_ that listens to his… or her… troops, now that we know you do," Rex offered on that last.

Ahsoka thawed some toward Rex for that avowal, and filed it away for future dealings with the Vod'e.

"Anyone that doesn't isn't worth the air they're breathing, Rex," Anakin answered, finally sure he was steady on his feet. He still hurt, badly, and that agonized, terrified pain in that cry still echoed deep in his chest. So much passion, so much love.... and such strength in the Force. 

"I'll keep that in mind, sir," Rex answered, while inwardly pleased that both of his Jedi, that Cody's Jedi, were worth it. He stepped free of his General's space then and returned to studying the tactical displays, in case a new threat should come up. He hated the waiting.

Ahsoka watched the Captain move on, then slipped over to Skyguy. "I think you should get something to bolster you, Skyguy."

"I'm all right, Snips," he said, even as he knew he wasn't going to fool anyone, let alone her, with the words. 

"Okay then, you can take me to the mess and make sure I eat enough to make up for that Force headache," she assured him blithely.

Anakin snorted at her, amused almost despite himself, and nodded. "All right, then. Come on, my padawan." 

+++++

"Luke Skywalker," Kit said, calling to the passenger as he inserted himself in Coruscanti traffic, navigating the streams to get on vector for the Temple. "Nearly there."

Luke opened his eyes from the hibernation trance, waking smooth and easy and not confused. Still aching, still without Leia's presence in his mind... and yes, they were definitely on Coruscant. He knew that sheer pulse of life and artificiality well, but it -- 

\-- it felt so different. More open, expansive, freer in heart than the survivors of Imperial City had ever managed... and there were so many nonhumans. So many different kinds of thought, languages and existences, where Coruscant was still so heavily human even now... it was wonderful. He shifted, getting to where he could see (at least somewhat) out of the canopy, orienting himself. 

Except he couldn't, because this portion of the planet was wildly different. In front of him, thrown up for hundreds of meters, were five intact spires, lifting from what had to be a kilometer or more of... ziggurat... that rose up smooth and unmarked, not near-obliterated. "Oh," he murmured, soft, awed. "So that's what it's supposed to look like..." 

Kit flinched, inwardly, at that. Could the war go so badly that the Separatist Armies made it this far? That they would take advantage of the lack of Jedi available here at home? The Temple was staffed by Initiates, Healers, Archivists, and at least three Masters, plus the younglings and their support staff, but… most Knights, Masters, and Padawans were scattered through the galaxy.

"It is home," he said, instead of asking dangerous questions. "Our archives, our future in the younglings, all here."

'Younglings'. 

The simple word echoed in Luke's mind, his chest clenching, worry sliding along his veins. Younglings. Jedi children, like Jacen and Jaina and Anakin, of many species, here, concentrated in one place....

/Oh, Father,/ he thought, aching, /what did you _do_?/ "It's... beautiful," he replied, still soft. "And so -- so very alive."

Kit nodded, trying not to taste the grief in the air around him, the concern and pain. Time travelers were dangerous, he decided in that moment, as he found himself debating the removal of the younglings to Ilum instead of staying here.

"And we will be landing…" he began, seeing an opening in the traffic stream to make a sharp dive to kill momentum, "now."

Luke laughed for a moment at the feeling of the ship diving, shaking his head at himself as his fingers caught the seat-back almost as though it was the throttle. Not his ship, he wasn't in the pilot's seat... and he certainly didn't have a touch of vertigo from the ship not responding to his hand. "You're a pleasant companion, but I have to admit I'll be glad to get out of the mess we made back here." 

Kit laughed at that. "I'm pretty certain either Master Yoda or Master Windu will be in residence; they rarely both leave Coruscant at the same time. If they are gone, Master Plo will certainly be available, so I know there will be wiser heads to help you than myself. And Master Nu knows the Archives better than any Archivist ever, I am certain."

"Master Yoda," Luke breathed, hope and longing and love a powerful surge in his chest. He had only seen his ancient Master's shade a rare few times, the thought of being able to see him alive again was a joy. The other names, those he did not know at all, but... no surprise there. Yoda had not wanted to speak of the last years of the Jedi, other than to say that they had failed terribly, that he had failed them. 

"Wisdom is definitely badly needed," he said after a moment, "though I think you may do yourself too little credit." 

Kit shook his head. "I only accepted a seat out of necessity, Knight Skywalker. I was not ready to be a Master, let alone sit on the Council. Not at all like Master Kenobi, who, despite being close to my first Padawan's age, has melded smoothly with his responsibilities there," Kit told him as he guided the ship into the landing bay. He was not surprised that Yoda evoked emotion; the Grand Master rarely missed a chance to teach those in the Temple, even if he had publicly avowed that there would be no more padawans from him.

"Master Kenobi. Be -- Obi-Wan?" Luke asked, as that thought, too, threatened to make his heart race before he took a moment to calm it, to steady himself. 'Padawan'. That was a term from some of the holocrons, it obviously meant something like student, from what Tionne had found, but... more personal? 

Ben, alive here-and-now. Ben, before he and Leia were born, before... before everything. Luke almost ached to see him, but he set that aside in order to deal with the practicalities of unfolding himself from the securely parked Aethersprite and safely onto the landing bay floor. It was... busy, and he could still see that it was mostly empty. That there was room for so many more crafts, so many more people. 

"Why am I not surprised that a Skywalker would know Master Kenobi?" Kit asked in a friendly voice. "Even now that the braid is severed, those two are a remarkable team. Some would say the best team from our ranks, and I would be hard-pressed to disagree." He waited for Luke to get the kinks out of his system, then set off at an easy pace for the inner levels, seeking the Council. As he walked, he adjusted his comm unit to the Temple band and sent a text request for the Council in residence to join him there.

"He was one of my teachers," Luke agreed, with barely an edge of his attention. 

_The best starpilot in the galaxy. A good friend, and a cunning warrior,_ Luke heard Ben's voice from a lifetime ago, love and grief so profound it had frozen him in his tracks. That was one thing, but to hear a stranger say 'the best team from our ranks' so easily, to hear the easy respect for his father he'd only heard from pilots who had no idea.... but then, at this point, Master Fisto would have no idea, either. 

Because it hadn't happened. 

And it wasn't going to. 

He was _going_ to save his father. 

...if he did that, he would never exist. Reality itself might tear apart, as someone who had never lived meddled in the past and rearranged events, wiped out every choice made. It was reckless, rash, possibly entirely stupid, dangerous... and he didn't care. 

If it saved his father, this place, these people; if it spared Alderaan, Carrida, Dac, Vortex, Eol Sha, Kashyyyk, Sullust, a thousand other worlds ravaged by the Empire... it would be worth it. How could he _not_ at least try, no matter if it cost his own life? 

By the time they reached the Council, five Masters had come to join them. Yoda was in his seat, Saesee Tiin on his, Adi Gallia in hers, Mace Windu at his place, and Depa Billaba in hers. Kit recalled she had recently taken a Padawan, one that was a bit young, and thus was not as surprised by her being on planet as he was by both Mace and Yoda.

Then Kit noticed Mace was still wearing his shoulder and chest armor emblazoned with the Republic's sigils. Had the insightful Master of the Order seen a shatterpoint that brought him back hastily?

"Honored Masters, I come with one who, by all I can sense in the Force and determine by logic, is lost in time. Knight Luke Skywalker," he stated, waving a hand at Luke's position beside him.

Luke looked from face to face, feeling the powerful currents of serenity and focus, the strength in the room, and he bowed to the room as a whole, dropping his eyes and head, then lifting them again. "Greetings, Masters," he said to the room, though his eyes had fixed on his Master seated in the oddly shaped chair. It looked as though it were comfortable for him -- 

\-- and there was not so much pain in his Master's face, in his large, dark brown eyes and the curves of his ears. 

Love for the patient, firm, irascible being that had put up with all of his childish stupidities and ignorant demands filled him again, love and relief and another sharp determination. Yoda, too, he had to protect. Somehow. 

"I have very little idea how I managed to get myself lost in time, but I most assuredly am," he agreed with Master Fisto's statement, "and I must ask your help." 

"Help, you ask," Yoda answered that, ears moving with the twitch of his lips in speech, as if considering the words, but in truth, it was the whisper of awareness, as if this boy was known to him on a level he had not possessed since…

...Since Dooku. The thought that he, Yoda, would even consider another, let alone a Legacy Force user of the Skywalker line -- and Luke had to be as those features and the bright pulse of him declared so boldly to his old eyes -- was staggering.

"Masters, I must urge caution in deliberating over Skywalker's request, as I have come back mostly due to a new shatterpoint, one that eclipses all the small ones I have been navigating," Mace told his peers, but his eyes stayed on the young man's face.

Luke looked away from Master Yoda's eyes at the sound of that strong voice, looking to a man he did not know, but who resonated with the strength of the Force, and met those dark eyes with his. What was a shatterpoint, he wondered for a moment. 

The word was very faintly familiar, from something Yoda had said once, in discussion some of the ways of perceiving the Force. A pivot point, a lynch-pin, that was what hit had been, and he felt his mouth curve slightly. Amusement was the wrong word for what he felt, but so was sympathy. He had some of both, how could he not, but.... "I cannot say I am surprised, Master. 

"How could you not, when I come from, mm, nearly forty years in your future, and know both far too much and far too little about the events of your present?" 

Mace weighed the words of the man, felt the presence in the Force ahead of him. There was a kinship there, that of being tested by, tempted toward the Dark and having pulled free of it in time, he thought. That this Skywalker was so strong was worrying, yet the relative calm on Luke was a far cry from coping with Anakin. He merely nodded then.

"If the Force has seen fit to guide Knight Skywalker here, it seems we must listen," Adi said, leaning forward. She was supposed to be leaving soon, a shared campaign with the 212th awaiting her, but she was glad she had delayed in leaving as yet.

"Knowledge of the future changes the future, and not necessarily for the better," Saesee Tiin countered the Tholothian's emphatic avowal to proceed forward with hearing Luke speak.

"And yet, with what we face, can we ignore the Force's outstretched hand, when our Visions have been so clouded?" Depa argued back.

Luke looked slowly between the Masters, listening to them, and waited for a silence to open for him. "In the Temple on Dantooine, I sought knowledge to share with my students, ways to help them. The artifact I found -- which Master Fisto has images of -- spoke to me of helping, of a way to make things right, before I touched it. 

"The next I knew... everything had changed, and I was... alone." 

Saesee Tiin grew very disturbed at the 'students', but Mace and Kit were well aware that numbers and time were not on their side. The one teacher, one student tradition might very well have to bend, if they kept losing appropriate teachers, given the younglings they had on hand, and the number of initiates still waiting.

Mace, almost more than anyone else, was twitchy over the idea of doing so; one teacher could not protect more than one student from Falling adequately in his eyes.

Yoda made a small sound in his throat, then nodded. "With care, we must proceed. Of history, you know little, you say. Much care is needed then."

Kit nodded at that. "Already, Masters, I have had one wish to do something in response to an offhanded comment from Knight Skywalker. So we will need to use caution to weigh our impulsive reactions and find the best path."

Luke turned slightly, giving his longest acquaintance here a slow twist of a smile. He thought he knew what that would be.. and yes. Oh, yes. 

Even that would be enough to destroy his timeline... and it was so worth it. They were only children. "If that wish was what I think it must be... I would. More than that -- I would beg you to. That aside, though, I -- honestly have no idea where even to begin." 

"The Archives, you will take him, Master Kit," Yoda said firmly. "Teaching others' Padawans, you are skilled in. When history is known, of recent trials, then to us, you will come, Knight Skywalker," Yoda said. "Use the Force, you will, listen to it, yes," he added.

Kit had bowed his head; he could cope with being grounded for a time, to teach this one. It was true; he'd served as a surrogate Master to more than one orphaned Padawan, and had to give up his only true student before seeing him to the Trials, letting another finish that part.

Luke nodded at Yoda's decision -- once he knew what had already happened (from sources not so profoundly tainted by the Sith), then he could, hopefully, make better determinations of what had to be said, and what should be left unsaid. The one thing he absolutely knew, though, was that he was going to save his father from ever becoming Darth Vader, one way or another. 

No matter what the Masters of the Order of the Old Republic might think about it. "Thank you, Master. Of course." 

Kit turned to guide Luke out and to the commissary first, knowing that once they delved into the Archives it might take a while to emerge. "Come, we will eat and drink before we study!" he said warmly. "For we have much ahead of us, I am certain."

"Very much," Luke agreed, casting one more look behind him at where Yoda sat in the ovoid chair, just to fix the sight of his Master alive and surrounded by friends and peers (not so terribly alone and sick, dying, bowed down by thousands of losses) in his mind. It was good. "And that sounds wonderful. 

"Thank you for being willing to, mmm, keep an eye? on me through this." 

Kit chuckled. "I have not attached for very long to any set of troops yet, as I am considered 'easy-going' enough to work with all of them, if a General or Commander should need extra Jedi assistance," he said. "My task is to wander where needed," he added. "For now, that is here, with you."

"...right," Luke murmured, refocusing a little, "we're in the middle of the Clone Wars, now." 

He could certainly believe that this man would be considered 'easy-going', he had such a steady, bright presence and a ready smile with a kind, easy wit. The idea of Jedi as military commanders still both startled and slightly bothered him, no matter that he'd held Rogue Squadron through most of his part of the war. "That's -- _that's_ what all of the death I can't stop hearing is, out there."

Kit's smile faded, and his tentacles drooped a little before he pulled his serenity close. "Yes, Luke, it is. We are trying, but we are spread very thin now, and the Separatists are growing bolder, or more desperate to win." He guided the misplaced Jedi Knight to the commissary and took strength from the younglings in there now under watchful eyes from the creche masters and staff. It made his soul feel good to see the future arrayed here.

But moving them, he decided, was something to be considered, and soon.

Luke's eyes fell on the groups of children -- some of them _so young_ , **why**? -- and he smiled, delighted, to see the utter lack of separation between species. Humans and Wookiees and Mon Cal and more, insectoid and reptilian and avian and others, all just... alive, together, in close little groupings that resonated with Force-bonds. 

But there were so many. 

_So_ many. More people that could use the Force than he had ever even contemplated. How had they all died? How could they all die? 

Not this time. Not as long as he could do anything to protect them. Never. "That... wasn't an accusation. Just putting things straight in my mind. Much as I can, anyway. 

"But that's nothing to talk about here, while we're sharing a meal."

"I did not take it as such. I do have regrets though." Kit then smiled and guided him to get a meal tray with him, greeting some of the younglings and having both his legs mobbed by a small pair of Twi'leks who were bold enough to approach despite the stranger. Kit carefully laid his finger tips on their foreheads, then shooed them back to their clanmates. 

Around them, life continued, moving in a pace that seemed to fit the feeling of the Temple itself, but Luke saw the signs of the galactic unease in the eyes of the older ones, the young teens that tried their best to help with the younglings. They knew the world outside their doors was full of war and pain, and had an air of anticipation to them.

"You wouldn't be Jedi, if you could feel that and not have regrets," Luke said, once the children had run back to their friends (family groups, maybe?) and they had settled down with their meals. Much like dealing with a mess hall on any Rebel base, the food was bland and formulated to feed as many people as possible, but unlike base food, Luke could almost feel the care that had gone into producing it. 

It made for a more pleasant meal. "Forgive me for being both blunt and rude, but... may I ask what people you come from?" 

Kit looked completely unfazed by that request. "I am a Nautolan, from Glee Anselm," he said. "We are the water dwellers there, and the primary population, as the land-dwellers, the Anselmi, are warlike and fight among themselves." He looked Luke over, tasting the air. "You have traveled much, but are, as far as I can detect, pure human. What world do you consider your origin?"

"I have no idea where I was born," Luke admitted honestly, tucking the species-name away into the back of his head for later, "but I was raised on Tatooine. And yes, as far as I know, I'm pure human. That's the med-droids' diagnosis, anyway." 

"Like our own Knight Skywalker, then," Kit said. "I recall when Master Jinn first brought him here, the stir it caused. And then when Kenobi, then a Knight, returned with him from Naboo as his Padawan. Too old for typical training, but far too young to have already been thrust in that role, so many said," Kit offered, to see if the information would reveal more about this Knight. Was he, as suspected, a son? Or were there more Skywalkers on Tatooine from which he hailed?

'Master Jinn'. That was a name he didn't know -- not much of a surprise, really -- and he listened intently. "...your own Knight Skywalker," Luke repeated, mildly amused, then gave up and took pity on one or both of them and just asked. "Would his name be 'Anakin' Skywalker? 

"And funny, I heard the 'too old to be trained' a few times, myself." 

Kit inclined his head. "Knight Anakin Skywalker, General to the 501st, personally attended by Torrent Company of that Legion. Once padawan to Obi-Wan Kenobi, now master to Padawan Ahsoka Tano," Kit supplied. He enjoyed talking about others, sharing pleasantries. It was one reason his friendship to Plo Koon ran so deep. "I believe they are on the outer edge of the rimward defense currently."

'The 501st. _Vader's Fist_?!' 

He thought he kept the momentary shock from his face, from the Force, trying to listen to the litany of his father's connections, before. "Anakin Skywalker was my father's name," he said quietly, "not that I ever got to know him. He.... he had a student?" 

Kit nodded, and pulled his comm out to display a recent image captured during his assistance of their forces a few campaigns previously. It projected a half-meter high image of a Togruta female, not quite full grown, and a man with dark hair carrying a scar over one eye. "It is not uncommon for Jedi children to not know their parents, it is true. But you carry his name, leading us to wonder. As Knight Skywalker is a bit unorthodox in following the Code."

'Not uncommon for -- _the hell with that!_!' 

There was no way anyone but Leia and Han (and Winter and Chewie) were raising the twins as long as any of them had anything to say about it. They'd had to keep Jacen and Jaina too far away from them the first years of their life as it was. Anakin was growing up more with his parents, because they had lost Anoth, and he was glad the family was together again. The idea of them not being with Leia now that they were older, of Anakin having not been? 

That was definitely one of those failings of the Code, as far as he was concerned. 

"I do," he agreed, shrugging both shoulders slightly. "On Tatooine, so far from -- well, from everything, really -- it was safe enough for me to. 

"That -- that's my father?" He was young. Younger than _he_ was, now. About the age, maybe, of when he'd first landed on Ord Mantell? Not as old as he'd been when he went to Dagobah. He stared, captivated, seeing Leia's stubborn jaw and his own eyes, the nose that was almost his, and hair that had even more of a wave than his. Confident, maybe even a little arrogant -- it showed in the way he stood even in the holo -- lightsaber that had once hung at his own hip still at that man's instead...

Armor over his shoulders and upper arms, uncomfortably familiar-looking to his eyes, but.. still human, still breathing freely, probably moving with utterly confident grace. 

And the girl at his side -- wasn't human. _Good_. Then the human-only focus had been another product of the Emperor. 

"Apparently, young Knight, unless the galaxy was gifted with two of his name and ability," Kit teased, smiling broadly to see the young man so entranced by such a simple image. "Perhaps it will be well for you to meet them," he added. "In time, since you have set your heart on helping. They … and Obi-Wan's 212th … wind up at the center of so much, after all."

"I would like that," Luke replied, once he could pull his focus from the holo, the sight of his father as such a young man (the sight of his father before he Fell), "very much. But I won't push for it." 

Yet. "If I could be anything but set on helping, I'd -- be someone I never want to be again," he amended, since they were both in public and around children. 

"You have borne a harsh life," Kit said, before quieting to finish his meal, a wave toward Bant as she came to collect the eldest clan for lessons; she was one of the few kept at the Temple for protecting the young, but did all she could to prepare their future. He felt great pride in her, as she was a true tribute to both the lost Master Tahl and the Order.

"Sometimes difficult, but not a tenth as harsh as those of some of my friends," Luke replied, before returning his attention to his food and clearing his tray. The wave towards one of the others turned his head that way, and he smiled to see a tall Mon Cal in Jedi robes, thinking affectionately of Cilghal. He was, so often, so proud of her. 

"Hmm." Kit did not challenge it, but his instincts told him that Luke probably understated his life's woes. "Bant Eerin, my first Padawan, inherited from Master Tahl, when she passed in an untimely death," he said, to give Luke a name for the woman. "She serves the Order as teacher and caretaker, though she is an excellent Knight in all fields."

"She looks a little like a Mon Cal student of mine... but only a very little. Thank you. It's... good to have names for the people I see. The older man, the dark-skinned one who spoke of shatterpoints. He is...?" 

"Master of the Order Mace Windu. His ability to sense how the Force will shape is one we had relied on for long years, but it has been less effective, as has Master Yoda's Vision ability, since the Sith rose in power," Kit said. "Master Adi Gallia was the Tholothian. Master Depa Billaba, who was Master Windu's Padawan and near to a daughter for him, was the other woman present. The Iktotchi was Master Saesee Tiin who remains here mostly because he has the most perfect battle meditation ability and thus can reach many Jedi at once, if a concerted effort is needed."

Mace Windu. Adi Gallia. Depa Billaba. Saesee Tiin. Luke wrote them into his mind quickly, firmly, placing faces with them. Names neither Yoda nor Ben had ever spoken, names of Masters who had been their friends and allies. Names he should remember. Along with Bant Eerin and Kit Fisto, 'Tahl', and 'Master Jinn'. 

"Sidious clouds almost any sight but that which he manipulates," Luke agreed quietly, before he studied Kit, seeing if he was finished yet, if they could go to the Archives.... 

"You are eager to begin! I like this." Kit stacked up their trays to carry to the return, rising gracefully to do so. "We still do not have any idea who Darth Sidious is, but Darth Tyranus… him we know, and it is for his Fall that Yoda has decided he is too old to take new padawans in the future.

"But that means he will continue to have time for the younglings, who love his teaching as much as they love him."

"Yoda with children... that would have to be something to see," Luke said, focusing on the smallest, most pleasant thing first. Yoda's wry sense of humor, his stubborn tenacity -- those probably would go well with younglings. He wished he could have seen Yoda with Jacen or Jaina, or Anakin, for a moment. 

"That's a name I don't know," he added, shaking his head slightly. Darth Tyranus, who was that... and who had he been to Yoda? "But Sidious... oh, I know him. I know him _well_." 

Kit looked at Luke with hope in his heart before he could focus on calm and serenity. He then practically drug Luke down to the Archives. "You must learn fast, Luke, because if you know that, and it is something you can reveal…. there is a strong chance we can at last end this war!"

Luke moved along beside him as swiftly as Kit was moving, eager to start, focused and intent. "I can and I will. I may then vanish from reality entirely, but... that won't be so bad, if I know I'm leaving all of you a chance." 

"You can never vanish from the Force, though you become one with it," Kit told him, understanding that willingness too well. If he could, by a single move or series of actions, save the people at risk in this conflict, he would not hesitate, no matter the cost to himself.

Luke chuckled, soft and quietly amused. "I haven't learned _that_ particular trick... and besides, while I'm no theorist or physicist, I have a feeling that if I eradicate my entire timeline before I'm even conceived... there will be a repercussion or two for me. 

"But I suppose we'll find out which of us is right eventually." 

Kit inclined his head. "The Force chose you, guided you here. I do not believe it would entirely undo what you are, so long as its will is met," the master told his guest, as they entered the outer reaches of the Archive. He aimed unerringly for the historic section, trying to determine the point most likely to be a logical place to begin.

He then noticed he had lost his guest… and turned back to go get him.

Luke had been right at his side, eager to start -- and then Kit had opened the door to the Archives and he'd taken two steps in. Two steps, no more, and frozen. 

He'd thought the library in the old Imperial Palace was incredible. This dwarfed it, shelves and racks of datapads that climbed not just to three times his height on this floor, but a second floor above it and a hangar long.

This. 

This had existed, once, before the Empire destroyed it. All of this knowledge, all of this wisdom. Everything he had found was less than _scrap_ compared to this, and... it had been destroyed for no better reason than one man's craving for power and his obscene hate. 

Kit let the Knight take it all in for long moments, seeing a deep hunger in Luke, and so much… troubled remorse and checked anger? That was what he thought he smelled. When Luke actually took a deep breath, Kit lightly touched the man's hand.

"Come. Perhaps there will be time to explore, once we begin setting matters to right."

"It's... amazing," Luke breathed, shaking himself back _to_ himself and focusing. "I'm sorry, Master Fisto. Yes, let's start." Kit led him to the recent histories, and took a deep breath. 

"Let's begin in the waning days of the last Chancellor, as some said his corruption led us to this point…." and he began finding datapads to educate Luke on recent events of the last fifteen years.

+++

Jocasta Nu, at least, had taken the images from Kit's recorder to research that part, leaving Kit free to explain nuances of the dry historic facts to Luke. They'd managed to make it to the year of Palpatine's ascension, as Kit recalled, but not quite that far, when a note entered by Master Windu caught Luke's eye.

 _On this date, Qui-Gon Jinn brought to us a likely prospect that matches the criteria of the Chosen One of Prophecy_ with an annotation to the proper file concerning said prophecy. _The Council has chosen not to train the boy, as he is nine standard years old, human, and as such is too shaped by his birth culture to truly shape in the Jedi manner. The Council notes that this Anakin Skywalker matter is likely not at an end, given the tenacity of Jinn._

"What prophecy?" Luke asked, pausing the display to flick a glance at Kit next to him, waiting for an answer. So, Master Jinn's personal name was Qui-Gon. Had he been from the same planet as Obi-Wan? 

Wait, what? He re-read a section again 'nine standard years old, human, and as such is too shaped' -- _what_? 

"An ancient prophecy that one who was born from the Force would rise up to bring Balance to the Force," Kit said. "I put little faith in it, but do not deny that Anakin is exceptionally gifted. I noted it in the classes I gave him."

"Balance," Luke murmured, shaking his head slightly. Of all the things his father had done, he would never have thought that 'balance' could possibly apply.... but in a cold sort of way, seeing all of this, and knowing how few users of the Dark Side there were -- how nearly impossible it was to touch the Dark Side and not be forever twisted into something, someone, you didn't want to be -- it almost seemed that his father... had. 

Not this way. 

_Not_ this way. ...or had it only happened -- if it happened at all -- when he struck down the Emperor? Or at least his true, physical body, Luke thought with a twist of his mouth. "...interesting. You taught him?" 

"I help with advanced shielding techniques when I am in the Temple. I am able to smell most species' physiological reactions to their own emotions, and thus can better help them learn to obscure the body as well as the mind," Kit said. "So yes, I taught him. He is prone to strong emotional outbreaks, his one largest flaw in becoming a strong Knight, in my opinion."

"You can -- " Luke blinked a few times, then smiled, wry. "The galaxy always has something more fascinating to show us, doesn't it? 

"I'm not surprised to hear that, though. Emotions run strong in all of us with his name or his blood," he said, thinking of Leia, of the twins. Of Anakin's fear and love alike, even young as he was... 

"You seem quite in control of it, though," Kit praised. He then smiled broadly. "It is a good thing, one that sometimes is forgotten by Kenobi's former apprentice. Though, he seems to be learning somewhat more, now that he has a volatile apprentice of his own."

Luke smiled at him, slow and a little sad. "I know what happens when I'm not, Master Fisto. It's not an experience I want to repeat." 

"Good." Kit then tapped the datapad. "Please, continue. Things are about to be rather more intense for a time, and will make for quicker reading, perhaps."

Luke nodded and went back into the datapad, reading. Active invasion, this young queen choosing to return to her people, new allies, these battle droids all controlled from orbit... and Master Jinn's death. Ben becoming a Knight, and taking -- 

"...who in the name of the Force thought it was a good idea to let a badly traumatized young man have all of the care of another half-grown boy?" 

"Master Jinn," Kit said. "It was hotly debated, Luke. But the trauma of him being freed so recently and taken from his mother, alongside a dying Master's command and Kenobi's own insistence prevailed. For all the struggles they may have had -- and most pairs do struggle at first -- they remain an excellent team even now, two and a half years after severing their training bond."

'Freed so recently'. 

Tatooine, Mos Espa -- oh. 

Oh, _Father_... Luke's chest ached, for him and for Ben, and he shook his head at Kit with a slow sigh. "I... can see that, I suppose. It seems unwise to me, but obviously, I wasn't there to see them, or what other options there might have been. 

"And I know they were dear friends, but it's good to hear that they make such a team, too. ...okay. Back to reading again," he told himself, more than Kit, and devoted his attention back to the pad. 

The pad flipped back to events running concurrently at the center of the Galaxy, as the election for a new Chancellor unfolded to reveal a large vote in sympathy to the Naboo cause, bringing one Sheev Palpatine to power.

Luke's lips skinned back from his teeth at the repeat of that name, the first name new to him, but Palpatine... 

So. That was how he'd done it. He'd used the murder and starvation of _his own people_ to take his first steps towards his Empire. His own people. Luke took a slow breath, releasing that anger, and went back to his reading. 

Kit had looked over, prepared to answer questions, then felt that anger, and waited.

It was completely unlike Anakin Skywalker, as Luke managed his emotions capably, letting it go so that only calm remained. Kit could only nod slightly in praise of the young Knight.

Luke felt the observation, lifted his eyes, and his mouth quirked for a moment. Was it really so surprising, that a third of the way through his probable lifespan, he'd figured out how to keep from being a loose cannon? 

And then he considered his father's ever-volatile, menacing presence, and decided that yes, it probably was. He didn't want to discuss it yet, and went back to reading. Complicated galactic politics, with the Jedi mentioned as... taking a hand in so much of it, as arbiters if not enforcers. Mentions, once in awhile, of his father, of Obi-Wan, of work they were doing. 

Every few months, though, there was some mention of Palpatine and something going just slightly... wrong. Something that meant he needed to take a more direct hand. After the fourth of those, Luke put the datapad down, looked at Kit, and said evenly, "I need to walk for a bit, but circling this room should be enough." 

"Please, do as you need, my friend," Kit said. He leaned back with the datapad he had selected for study between Luke's questions, detailing Dantooine's Jedi history.

Luke walked, moving silently between two stacks to reach an edge of the room, and then walked the outer edge. It was easy to be quiet, to not disturb anyone else, as he let the simplicity of movement work to help him bleed away his anger and passion over seeing the slow, subtle manipulations that had brought that man into more and more power. 

It took several circuits of the room, but finally he decided that he had to know more and headed back for the pad and Kit to dive in again. 

Kit reached out and patted his shoulder in quiet reassurance before settling fully into his reading, his senses attuned to the human as he let his mind ponder how the artifact might have come to be.

"This woman," Luke said after a while, "this Queen turned Senator, Amidala. She seems... surprisingly important, for someone from such a relatively minor world....?" 

"She is a leader of the movement to bring peace back through diplomacy, and opposed the military creation act virulently," Kit said. "She also has an amazing habit of turning up in the middle of military situations rather unexpectedly due to poor intelligence or planning, but so far she's come through unscathed."

He set his datapad down, went and selected a different one and set it to display holos. "This is her, with her most persistent allies in the Senate," Kit offered, making certain names were printed above each holographic person. One, at least, Luke needed no name for, recognizing the stately Mon Mothma even as young as she had to be. The man's name was entirely too familiar, though Leia rarely allowed herself to display any images of her dead family.

The woman from Naboo, however, looked hauntingly familiar in a way that took Luke a moment to understand.

"Mon Mothma I know well," Luke said softly, "she's an incredible woman, I don't know what we would have done without her. Bail Organa... the Senator from Alderaan. I've wished I could have met him for... pretty much my entire life off of Tatooine. And she's -- she's stunning." 

She looked so much like Leia that it hurt to look at her, especially in the blue-flashing holo. Dark eyes and hair, elaborately coiffed, elegant rosebud mouth... he felt himself fall into love instantly, and was as sure as he was sure of his name that this was their mother. 

"They are a very vocal group within the Senate, with many allies, and the only solid block that consistently urges caution over the powers delegated out from the Senate's oversight. They have all also turned up in … delicate negotiations, as they do tend to try and reach out as much as they can." Kit smiled, remembering the last time he'd been called on the escort Bail out of a contested system.

"I normally leave politics to my twin," Luke replied, "she has the gift for it -- she'd say training, but it's a gift -- but that doesn't surprise me from Mon Mothma or Senator Organa. You said something about Senator Amidala winding up in the middle of military situations... is that something I'll find as I go?" 

So Leia took after their mother in more than looks, in heart and drive and passion. There was something amazing and fascinating about that, fascinating and delightful. 

"They should be in the reports, mostly from the 501st, some from the 212th, as you go," Kit said. "And the hostage situation here in the Senate chamber, but that was late year one of the war…." He went to find the pads that would have briefings from all the campaigns to add to the ones dealing with strictly historical accounts of political maneuverings and their effects.

Huh. He'd expected... something, in reaction to his mention of Leia, but the other Master seemed not to be at all surprised by it. Luke set that away, reached for the top pad in the stack of them, and read several entries. Entries his -- his _father_ had written. 

There was nothing of Darth Vader's stiff formality in these words. They were sparse, yes, obviously written quickly and with only as much detail as there had to be (more than anything, he was reminded of Wedge's reports during the war, when they all had better things to do than paperwork), but there was something almost playful in them. A carelessness in recounting things that Luke was frankly astounded by (they'd done what? With what?) as he read that was strangely like Han... and then he froze in place, his heart clenching in agony and love and wild pain at the sight of two simple words. A name. Callista Masana. 

_Callista_. 

He was holding the pad in his artificial hand, and it was still shaking. 

"Luke?" Kit asked, as these emotions were not contained, not controlled in the way the anger had been. "May I help you in some fashion?"

 _Callista_ still lived. She was whole and young and here and….

She wouldn't know him. She would be in the middle of her life, living it with all of her particular sense of right and wrong and her own drive.

He couldn't make himself tear his eyes from her name, for a long period of time, from seeing her listed as being a rogue Jedi of a faction separate from the Order.

"Luke?" Kit asked again.

"Just a name I... hadn't thought to see. I should have, I suppose. I knew she was from this time," Luke answered, soft, once he could think clearly enough to answer. Their time was long past, long over, but... he still cared for her, still wanted the best for her. "She's... she's alive, and safe, and strong, here. 

"She has everything I could possibly want her to, and it's... wonderful." 

And she was never going to be trapped and dying in the _Eye_ 's computer systems, because he was going to wreck all of Palpatine's plans before they ever got that far. 

In saving his father, he could protect her from that decades-long nightmare, too. 

"I had not considered such ramifications, but it makes sense. There are what, barely two minimal human generations from where you originated and this time? You may well encounter other life-stories that have crossed yours in that time," Kit reasoned. "Be aware, you are not alone, for we will not abandon you to your struggles," he promised. "Be it from emotional storms or physical trial."

Luke lifted his head enough to smile at Kit, affectionate and easy. "Oh, I know I will. It's just... particularly complicated, with her. And... thank you. I think I belong far more with the Altisian Jedi than I do here, but here is where I need to be."

"Perhaps, when this is done, if the Force allows, you can speak with me on why you feel so?" Kit suggested, hiding away his long meditations on changes he could see growing out of the war. His best friends in the Order were all so strongly committed to the units they served, and the complications of facing death so strenuously had… 

Well, he was able to guess how emotionally complicated the person in Luke's reading had been for him from a personal standpoint. 

"If the Force allows," Luke agreed, immediately, "I would be glad to. Come on, Skywalker, back to your research." 

He needed to finish catching up, to understand the world around him, so that he could start ripping the Emperor's plans apart. 

++++

Aside from being convinced that yes, his mother was often in the thick of things where she did not belong but could not be swayed from, and yes, his father was every bit as cocky and reckless as people accused Han of being, Luke didn't have too many other shocks in the historical reading. Kit looked at him as the last datapad was handed off to an initiate to be shelved again, and waited a moment for Luke to rub his face and stretch.

"Do you know where we should begin?" he asked.

Luke sighed, raking his fingers through his hair, and reached out to the Force, closing his eyes for several moments, trying to determine what the Force willed here, what the best course of action was... and he opened his eyes again, looking squarely at Kit. "The man I knew as Darth Sidious, First -- and last -- Galactic Emperor... was born with the name Sheev Palpatine." 

All around him, the Force -- if not reality itself -- shuddered violently and rang like a bell. 

Kit had to catch hold of the table for his own balance as everything he knew and believed in was rocked by Truth being uttered, and elsewhere in the Temple, Masters and those below them all felt a sundering of the dark shadows that had blocked them for so long.

Mace found himself grasping his own robe's sleeve to a nose bleed as the shock of shatterpoints being ripped wide and sewn shut threw his body into more than it could handle. Yoda's eyes flared wide… and a spectral presence that had been with him for some time now rippled almost into view as the Dark Side lost its iron-clawed grasp against his aid.

Finally, Kit could speak, and he looked at Luke with earnest faith. "Then you must aid us in finding the proof necessary to bring him away from his power, Luke. Because such an accusation, no matter how true, is not enough to break the hold he has as Supreme Chancellor."

"Anything I can," Luke agreed... and then he smiled, slow and sharp. "And actually... I think I know exactly where to begin. We need to go to Byss... and we have to get there without touching the hyperlane. If he's started his monstrosities there, that will be one proof. If he hasn't... I know some of his other secrets." 

"Show me where you speak of, for I have only heard rumors of a paradise world by that name." Kit 'reached' and a galactic holo map flew to his hands for him to plug into place.

Luke nodded and started interacting with the map, sliding from Coruscant towards the Deep Core, opening out the ever-more-tightly-packed clusters of stars until Byss's star sat exposed in the center of the holo. The world itself did not show, but he knew where it was, and reached in, laying his fingertip on its orbit. "Here. And I've heard it was a paradise once. It was a pure and simple hell of the Dark Side when I stepped onto it." 

Kit studied it, studied the deep gravity well, and shook his head. "I cannot get you there. Master Plo, maybe. But I think… I believe there is only one pilot skilled enough to do that run."

"Other than me," Luke replied, his mouth quirking slightly. "Though I'm not sure I could do it in an unfamiliar ship... or without Artoo. Without Artoo is more of a problem than the unfamiliar ship, honestly." 

In his X-Wing, with Artoo? It would be hard, but far, far from impossible. In a ship he didn't know, without a counterpart synch from Artoo and Artoo's ability to help him... he might well kill himself trying. 

"Then we will contact Anakin and have him report in. His G9 Rigger should have the power and transportation capability to take you, at least a couple Senators, and another Jedi there," Kit reasoned.

"A G9 Rigger? Huh. Not one I've ever had a hand on... but then again, I've got a friend still running a YT-1300, so. No stones from me." 

His father. He was going to be able to actually meet his father, and not just in holding him as he died. 

"Come, I know the Council is moving toward our meeting chamber; we will discuss with them." Kit rose and turned to lead the way out again, feeling the deep night of Coruscant press… and he could only hope that the Temple protections themselves had kept the Force ripple contained.

Luke nodded and followed Kit back out of the Archives, casting a longing look behind him at all of that knowledge, before he focused on what needed to be done. 

Kit got them up there, the same set of Masters joining them… none of them looking well or rested.

"What did you do, Skywalker?" Mace Windu asked with a cadence to those words that sounded practiced. 

"He named Sidious to me, and has outlined a place we may go, to begin gathering the evidence, Master Windu," Kit said with protective tones, and the overwrought Master in front of them forced himself to calm further, understanding that he was projecting aggression.

Luke had a much, much better understanding of why those words from the tall, dark man might sound so practiced, after reading through those mission briefs. His father had... a very definite flair for how he accomplished his goals, and so he only smiled wryly at Master Windu. "It did make... a little more of an impact than I had really expected. I am sorry if it caused you pain, Master. 

"Hopefully, repeating it will cause less shockwaves." 

"One will hope, and be joined by all," Yoda said. "If the Force was clear to you in the revelation, speaking it again is necessary."

Kit found himself offering Luke silent support, a bolstering wave of energy, just in case.

Luke blinked at the offering, then leaned into it, letting the other man's strength hold him steady, as he looked from Master to Master, stopping at his own, meeting Yoda's dark eyes with his. "As I said it to Master Fisto, then, Master. 'The man I knew as Darth Sidious, First -- and last -- Galactic Emperor... was born with the name Sheev Palpatine'." 

This time, the Force did not so much clang as... shudder, and Luke could feel the shock and horror of the Masters he faced rippling through the Force against his mind. 

"Then, we may be doomed," Saesee Tiin said pessimistically, "for he has the Senate in his palm."

"Not yet, not completely," Adi countered immediately, fierce and strong in her conviction. "Many systems still resist his calls for more power… even if they are fronted by his allies, and he claims he wishes no more!"

"Master Gallia speaks true," Mace said slowly. "We must convince those Senators to cease making themselves vulnerable while we gather evidence. Skywalker," and he looked at the Knight clearly. "How can we do that? Where will we find the proof we need against Sidious?"

"With any luck," Luke replied, "he's already started some of his atrocities on Byss. With a little less luck, that world is still safe and we're going to have to go to Wayland... which is not going to be fun. Either the Guardian will be there, or Joruus C'baoth -- " 

He had been careful to use the mispronunciation brought from the cloning, but that seemed to matter little.

"Master C'baoth?" was uttered in numerous voices before Mace held up his hand to quiet them. 

"Are we to understand that Master C'baoth was corrupted by Sidious?" Mace asked, because he could feel something _wrong_ in that pronunciation and the Force-feel behind it. "He's been gone from us on an exploration mission nearly seven years."

Luke shook his head, looking at the dark-skinned man evenly. "No, Master Windu. I said 'Joruus', not 'Jorus'. The twisting was not of your... friend?, but of a cloned copy of him. It was, however... profound. 

"By the time I encountered him, he was... entirely mad, and frighteningly powerful. He may be less so, so early in his existence." 

The effect of his words, though, was one of horror and maybe a side note of anger, though that was probably just Mace. 

"A Jedi Clone?" Depa Billaba asked in a hushed, smaller voice than she ever used. Beside Luke, Kit's entire body had gone still.

"Yes, Master Billaba," Luke answered softly, looking to her rather than Master Windu, wishing he could reassure her, but all he had were the cold facts of Joruus C'baoth's painful existence. "It's a... truly terrible idea. Spaarti cloning in general is a terrible idea, especially without the ysalamiri to shelter the developing minds from the Force, but a Jedi -- or any Force user -- just results in madness.

"Not that the Emperor needed any help in being mad." 

"This will have to be investigated as well, but first, the Chancellor," Adi pushed at them all, much more calmly. 

"To get to the first planet, we will need our best pilot," Kit told the others, settling the galactic map he had brought into the display, letting Luke focus it in once again. "While Luke assures me he could, he is years away from his preferred vessel and astromech."

"Two Skywalkers working together? The galaxy might not withstand that," Mace said, to show he did have a sense of humor. "Who else should go on that journey, Master Yoda?"

"Hmm, contemplate this, I must. Recall Skywalker, you will. Afford the loss of him and Kenobi in the field we cannot, so not his former master."

Luke shrugged one shoulder slightly, finishing manipulating it to show Byss' system, letting the Masters study it and see the problems with the course, as he glanced at Master Windu in amusement at the mild joke. "We'd better hope it can, Master, because there's not much choice." 

Mace stood to come investigate it, well aware of the skills of every Jedi pilot available to them… and Kit was right. "We'll bring Anakin here. Kit, I am sending you as the Master for this journey, unless Master Yoda chooses otherwise. He will advise us of who else is needed." He thought about recalling Plo, to give them another decent pilot, but Kit, once shown the way, should be adequate if neither Skywalker could guide them back out again.

"I will contact Skywalker," Depa offered. "His padawan?"

"Is to remain with their legion. She is more than able to lead them in his absence, should Separatist activity necessitate it."

That half-grown girl, lead troops in the field, against those uncountable masses of killing droids? Luke felt his heart clench... but it was surely true, or they would not say it so easily. He took a breath and contemplated Byss instead of either her or that he would so soon meet his father. "Master Fisto, when I first told you, you mentioned asking a Senator or two to accompany?" 

"It would be best to have them on the fact-finding mission, yes," he said, looking towards Yoda.

"Aware of this, I am, Skywalker," Yoda promised the Knight that called to him as a Padawan. "Careful in our choosing, yes, careful, we must be."

Depa moved to use the communication center, punching in the direct code for the _Resolute_.

++++

"General, Sir, we have a direct line to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant open," Anakin's wrist comm told him.

"Be right there," he answered and headed for the holo suite at a jog. He wasn't sure if he hoped it was information on the latest Force disruption or just a mission, but he was getting really, really tired of sitting around waiting. 

It was good for the troops, stars knew they needed their rest, but it just gave him too much time to think, to worry (and to feel the deaths of the brothers, across the galaxy, falling because he wasn't good enough). 

It was Master Billaba who greeted him, stress all around her eyes if one knew what to look for. 

"Knight Skywalker, we need your presence at the Temple."

Out of sight he could hear Kit Fisto's voice, "with his transport."

"With your transport. I presume he means the _Twilight_."

"Yes!"

Anakin blinked once, startled, but anything that could upset Master Billaba was... something he either badly wanted to know about, or badly didn't, and he apparently didn't get the option not to. "Just me, Master, or...?" 

"Your padawan is to take charge of the 501st in your absence," Depa told him. "Master Windu has expressed confidence in her ability to do so," she added, to allay concerns on that issue. "Due speed is warranted, Skywalker. We expect you swiftly."

Anakin nodded once, thinking of Snips' 'unless, like, you were to take your reports', her halfhearted attempt to get him to head to the Temple (as though she'd known he was going to need to) for a moment. "I understand. I'll see you -- or whoever's still present when I arrive -- as soon as I can. May the Force be with you, Master." 

"And with you, Knight." Depa signed off, and turned back to the others. "He will come soon."

"Then go, all of you. Master Gallia, awaited by Kenobi with your troops, I believe? Master Billaba, your student will awaken early, as ever. The rest of us, rest we must." Yoda's words were final on the matter; he had to navigate his meditations carefully to choose the most effective task force for this critical mission. 

"Luke, I have quarters suitable to a human, if you wish to come with me. Or I can find you a room that is empty." Kit was not going to abandon the man, but he also knew some people required solitary time more than companionship.

"I'd be glad to stay with you," Luke replied, smiling at him for a moment, "thank you." 

He didn't have any real interest in being alone, not given everything he'd had to find out. He'd refused to think too much about Count Dooku, Darth Tyranus, while he was learning... but the idea of two members of his lineage (from Yoda down to his father) besides himself having Fallen was sitting heavy on his heart. 

But then, Yoda had told him, several times, that he felt the Code he had taught had failed his students. Now, he understood why much better. 

Kit led him out of the Council, then down to the small apartment he sometimes got to sleep in. While he did indulge his need for water by keeping a lagoon style tub, he was too accustomed to sharing time with human or near-human species to ever go for the full habitat of his planet. It had led to him moving in with his Mon Cal students in the past, rather than force them to adapt to his way of life.

"There is a processor, if you want a snack. And there may be clothing in the padawan room that would fit you. I'm terrible about cleaning it out after fostering padawans for other masters."

"...fostering, is it?" Luke asked, having shaken his head at the mention of a snack -- he'd had plenty to eat earlier, though he appreciated it -- and so curious about how the Order had done things before the Purge. "And thank you. Clean clothing would be nice, I drenched these a couple of times." 

"Shower works, but you'd hate the bath; it's an inlet-lagoon for me," Kit said with a laugh. "I have only trained one Padawan from Initiate to nearly ready for the Trials; I have taken on several who were at varying stages because their masters died or were needed elsewhere. Of these, Bant claims me as I did spend a long time with her." He was not ready to discuss Nahdar, for he did feel the sting of failure in curtailing the young man's impulses.

"I might not hate it, but I won't invade it, either. Thank you, I'll see about both," Luke replied with a light smile before he moved towards the indicated room to investigate clean clothing and find the shower. 

Kit did go make a snack, then took long enough to check the messages that had built in his absence. He closed his eyes at one; it seemed he had only just missed Aayla and her troops on leave here. 

Eventually, they would be in residence more often, possibly able to make a plan for allowing pair-bonds once more within the Order. Once this war ended --

\-- and it made his tentacles quiver to think that time might be very near indeed. He would have to hold the anticipation at bay, to be strong and conscientious in performing his duty, not get sloppy.

Luke came back out from the padawan's room with a set of clothes over his arm that he thought would work, and Kit's body language drew his attention. "Are you all right, my friend?" 

"Hopeful. Truly hopeful, for the first time in years," Kit told him honestly. He then waved Luke on, and went to get himself settled.

++++

Anakin had done a lot to his _Twilight_ since he gained it, and it made excellent speed these days. Getting docked in the Temple was easy enough, and he could feel the entire structure vibrating with more Force ripples than ever before, despite the lack of a substantial population above the age of twelve.

He strode rapidly through the halls, Artoo at his heels, to go to the Council chamber.

The news that Knight Skywalker's ship had come back into realspace had been enough to bring Kit and Luke to the Council chamber in a hurry. They were there well before the rippling storm that felt half like Kyp and more like Corran, with an edge of Tenel's fury, came through the door. He knew that face from the holo Kit had shown him, the scar over the eye, the length of the hair... but he didn't know the _presence_ at all. 

That wasn't Darth Vader. 

This was _Anakin Skywalker_ , his father, and Luke felt the way he held the Force as easily as his lightsaber. 

And behind him -- was _Artoo?!_

Despite himself, his serenity broke in a startled noise that he tried to strangle off without much success. At least it was quiet? 

Kit raised one hand up to rest on the man's shoulder; this had to be emotional in extreme, but he felt Luke would recover quickly.

Anakin, however, swiveled his head to the stranger, and stared longer than anywhere near polite. It was as if he was looking at an older brother, though he knew he was his mother's only child. The flow of the Force was blindingly strong, and the stranger seemed… profoundly affected by his entrance. 

"Knight Anakin Skywalker," Mace began, before the storm cloud could grow from frustrated curiosity. "This is Knight Luke Skywalker, brought to us by the Force itself."

Luke refocused from Artoo to the young man -- his father, younger than him, with so much of Kyp's pain in the presence around him /Be careful, Luke/ he thought he heard Ben whisper, /be gentle/ -- staring at him in confused, focused intent, and he bowed slightly to Anakin. "Via Dantooine, much to my surprise. Hello." 

Luke ached to be able to touch this stranger, to know him, to -- if they had time -- be a friend, an ally, but no one with that presence could be rushed or pushed into acceptance. He would have to wait. Thankfully, he was better at waiting than he had once been. 

"Quite surprising," Anakin made himself say, finding his charm to be a better ally to hide his confusion. Now his eyes devoured the face all over again, looking for the signs of Padmé in the eyes, the jaw, the nose… and yes, it was entirely possible this was his own child by his wife.

Oh wouldn't that just make things so difficult all around!

"We have need of your piloting ability," Kit explained then, again showing the galactic map that was now set to show the planet in question. "As we need to get _there_ , and Luke stated it would be best to do so without using the hyperlanes."

Anakin strode to where he could better judge possible approaches, followed by his droid. "What do you think, Artoo?"

The droid studied it… and the Masters used their own patience at that idiosyncrasy of Anakin's, Mace with an actual smile for it… before Artoo beeped that it was possible.

"Who are we taking, Masters?" Anakin asked the Council, his eyes sliding back over the older man Kit was staying near. That fact, actually, settled Anakin's nerves as to the truth of it all more than anything else; lying to a Force-using Nautolan should be impossible, after all.

Luke had flashed a smile back to him, seeing Leia's confident, easy charm in that smile, and he waited for someone from this time to answer. That his father had asked Artoo what he thought, almost exactly as he would... something banded tight around his heart at that, and again he could not understand how this man could have fallen so terribly far. Could have so lost himself... but there was that shading on his father, pain and grief and the inward-curled twist of shame at a failure -- and he was not certain the Masters in the room could see it, could know it.

Or if they did, they were obviously entirely helpless to do anything to help _him_.

Fine. He would. 

"Me," Kit answered the young Knight's question, "and Luke here. As to others... Master Yoda?" 

"Senators Amidala and Chuchi, agreed they have. Waiting for one other, I am," Yoda told them. "Commander Thire, I send with you for escort, and a man of his choice."

"The Senators must handle any evidence acquired, Knights and Master. As this is, ultimately, a matter the Senate must decide, we wish you to witness, the troopers to witness and protect, but the Senators must decide if a case can be made." Mace then looked at Luke. "You will brief Anakin, Luke." His eyes held hidden knowledge, as the shatterpoint loomed large.

"Yes, Master Windu," Luke agreed, his eyes going to that bottomless, unfathomable gaze, and he nodded slightly. He firmly held his delight that he would be able to meet not just his father, but the mother he could not remember at all, deep under his defenses and shields. 

He looked at Anakin then, a slight smile curving his lips as he made an attempt to get this out of these formal chambers that reverberated with pain and contention and unending grief. "Is there anywhere in this place you're particularly fond of, that we could talk while we wait?" 

Anakin considered that, then gave his trademark cocky smile. "Certainly. Artoo, study it some more and make certain the _Twilight_ 's nav-comp is up to date with these charts." His mech trilled an affirmative, and Anakin rested his hand on the dome a moment before beckoning for Luke to join him.

"Tell Dex 'hello'," Kit said, grinning but not intruding on them. This should be private, if Luke had to actually confirm what Anakin had to suspect.

Luke wanted, so badly, to lay his own hand on Artoo, to reassure himself that his friend was there and whole... but it would be intolerably rude to invade that way, so he just walked to join his father. That smile -- more Han than _anything_ , which was an incredibly strange thing to even think -- was so easily warm, almost playfully devil-may-care... how could they not see the pain it was such an attempt to mask? 

'Dex'. Who was a Dex? Whoever it was, it was someone Kit knew and obviously liked, so. Almost certain to be someone interesting. "Lead the way?" he half-asked, half-offered, watching his face. 

"Alright," Anakin said, turning to guide him down to where the communal speeders were. He flicked an absent Force check at the elder man, just to feel a little less off-guard… curiosity and guarded in certain ways… but did not expect to feel shadows, the kind that ran so dark and deep on Dooku and Maul, on Ventress. Only those shadows were contained, cordoned off almost, and Luke _blazed_ with the Light.

How was that even possible?

Luke felt the brush over him, and turned his head enough to look at Anakin. There was an almost palpable shock on those strong features, and Luke couldn't help but smile, sad and sympathetic. "You see what our elders refuse to, I think. It's all right. I promise you, I only want to help save as many people as I can." 

"I don't think they can fathom it," Anakin said, not even denying what he saw. "Or they brush it off to things like many of them have seen, decisions made under duress through this war," he growled, thinking again of his men, of their brothers, of the worlds under siege because he'd not been strong enough, fast enough to keep Dooku contained to Geonosis. "But… you can't fool Master Fisto, no matter what. So, I'll take you to Dex's diner, he'll give us the back, quiet table, and you can talk. Convince me it's better for me to pilot a tight run like that than to be with my men, winning back a world in the Mid Rim."

"No, I don't think I could," Luke agreed with the comment about Kit, "thankfully, I don't want to try. And all right; that suits well enough. A quiet table at a diner... that sounds like a good few negotiations I've been at, over the years. Hopefully at this one I won't get pulled into adjudicating the fallout of a rigged sabaac game?" 

That instant desire to be back with 'his men', to be in the thick of the fight -- and it was to protect people, to save lives, Luke could nearly taste that intent -- and making a difference... _how_ had his Father ever fallen? 

Anakin laughed at that. "I leave that kind of stuff to my Captain or my Commander," he said. He selected a speeder, taking the pilot's side and waiting for Luke to get in. He then took off, and if there were traffic laws, Anakin was only taking them as suggestions… without truly endangering anyone.

Luke was absolutely certain that there were, and that they were strict -- having flown on Coruscant a few times himself -- but after a few moments, he made himself lean back, fold his hands behind his neck, and enjoy the flight. 

With his hands folded, he wouldn't show the attempts to grab a throttle that wasn't on this side of the cockpit and handle the speeder himself. There was such complete confidence in his father's presence that Luke just watched the world and traffic whip by, taking in the millions of differences. "...she looks so different," he murmured after a minute or so of observation. "There's none of the damage I'm used to seeing." 

Anakin's hands flexed on the controls, the gloved one more carefully than the naked one, before he glanced over. "The war? Or something else?" The man looked… several years older than himself, maybe not as old as Obi-Wan… no, probably right about Obi-Wan's age, if he was reading it right. Hard to tell, when he lived surrounded by clones who went from shiny to mature in the space of months, it felt like.

"Several wars. This one -- I think, I was told some of the craters dated to the Clone Wars," he amended that slightly, since he wasn't entirely positive, and refused to lie to his father, even, especially, this young version, who he needed to be careful with and for. "The one Leia and I were swept into -- okay, I was swept, she jumped -- and the assorted assaults on our Republic after," Luke answered. 

"Why?!" Anakin had to shift his bionic hand away from the controls, because his temper ran heatedly high at that. "No… neither here nor there. I just… I want it to be over, so I can go and do what I was meant to do." He didn't think he could face Tatooine, but it was by far not the only planet with slavery. As he had seen, again and again in this conflict. He was pretty certain even Obi-Wan would help him now.

A few moments later, he put his gloved hand back on the controls, and resumed a less careful driving habit, diving through several layers to get into the middle range of the city, aiming for Dexxter's Diner with ease.

Luke glanced at that motion, the careful opening of his hand, and wondered. He knew his father's right arm had been artificial as Darth Vader... but was it already? Had he lost that hand fighting for the Republic, not the Empire? 

"No... it's important, but it's also a very long way into the story. ...what you were meant to do?" he asked, hungry to know what his father thought of himself and his purpose. 

"I told the Jedi who found me and took me from my home that the Jedi should free all the slaves, and I still mean to do that," Anakin said fiercely. "No being should be bound to serve another with no choice at all in it!"

Luke wasn't certain if the feeling in his chest was agony or bliss; he knew what was in the forefront of his mind was profound confusion -- if that was what his father believed, _how_ that...monster had come to exist was more of a mystery than ever. "It is such an obscenity. And if I somehow survive what I'm doing, I want to come help." 

The Wookiees, the Mon Cal, Kyp's family, the Quarren, Agorffi, Yuzzem, and Talz, Chromans, Ugnaughts, and so many other races that had fallen into the Empire's slaveholding -- Vader had supported that regime, had been the Emperor's greatest weapon... _how_?!?!

Anakin frowned and looked at Luke with concern. "Why… oh, changing history by interacting with it." He shrugged. "Your history may begin then, but it has continued to now, so I don't see why you won't still be here," he said. "And… I think I might like that. You… you're different. Not like the Order. More like… like some others I have met."

Luke made an amused noise, almost despite himself. "There are three easy reasons, and probably a half dozen others -- but that's actually not important. You're right, I am. I wasn't raised in the Jedi Order, and my teacher, when I finally had one... had had to face that the Code had failed his other students and its entire purpose alike. 

"I _don't like_ some of what I have already seen in the Order, no matter how wonderful the individual Jedi may be." 

"Some of them are decent," Anakin admitted. "Put too many in one room, and you want to figure out how to strangle them from where you're sitting." He pulled up outside Dex's place, completely unaware of how his casual, joking words, could affect his company.

Luke flinched violently, the feeling of the Force wrapped around his throat and the black euphoria of doing it to another both suddenly flashing back into his mind, his body shifting against the side of the speeder and his hand falling near his lightsaber for a moment before he could check himself. "No," he murmured, "you _don't_ want to figure that one out." 

Anakin shot him a look, uneasy and disturbed that the way Luke said it almost felt… no, it did feel personal. 

"Sorry. Didn't mean to upset you. Come on; you'll love the food here and you can tell me all about your brilliant plan to save the galaxy. And I know it has to be yours; the Council can't think their way out of the war we keep nearly losing."

"It's all right," Luke replied, shaking his head a little as he unfolded himself from the side of the speeder and went over the edge of the cockpit. "It's not you that did the upsetting, after all. And it's less my _plan_ than my knowledge, though we've got a decent start on a plan now. But that," he tipped his jaw at the diner as he headed towards it, "smells heavenly, I haven't eaten in a while, and cafeteria food is no match for a diner."

"Nope. Obi-Wan took me here whenever he felt like indulging himself, or me more rarely, or sometimes because Bant decided we were going out," Anakin said, half-smiling, because this was a good memory for him. Dex was always pretty chill, and his regulars knew better than to start crap with a Jedi that Dex liked. He walked in, heard one of the waitresses rat their arrival out, and braced for impact.

Luke hadn't been able to keep from smiling at the happy tone in his father's voice about Ben -- Obi-Wan, bless it, the name a person chose to use was important, and here it was Obi-Wan -- and this place. It was good to hear him mention Obi-Wan without the savagely malevolent hate that had poured from Darth Vader when he spoke, to hear in his father's voice that Ben's 'a good friend' was true from more than a Jedi's certain point of view. 

"Ani! Little Ani, not so little any more!" Dex said, coming out and shaking Anakin's real hand fiercely. "Who's this?"

"A friend of mine named Luke. Mind if we snag a table?" Anakin asked.

"Never mind that, Ani, never. ...you want the back?" Dex asked, his small eyes narrowing a little at the presence of not one but two Jedi as he studied the one he didn't know, then offered his hand. 

Luke reached out to shake, careful with the strength in the bionic fingers at first. He didn't need to be, he quickly discovered as Dex's massive hand enveloped his and squeezed. "Pleasure to meet you," he said in the moment before Anakin answered. 

"'lek," Anakin told Dex, dropping the Mando'a just to insure Dex knew this was military business, and to keep the snoops away.

"Got ya covered, Ani…" Dex said, before going to open the small door that led to the 'back'. "You two come on, get settled in. I'll bring you the specials myself!"

"You're always a good friend, Dex," Anakin told him, following.

Luke wondered what had happened to this man when the Emperor rose, forcibly pushed the errant thought aside, and followed as well, stepping in and looking around. It looked like a thousand other diners on a thousand other worlds, scent of the cleansers used keeping it fresh despite the obvious heavy wear and tear, and he moved to settle into one of the seats around the oblong table with a quiet sigh. 

Anakin took a seat beside him and settled in. It didn't take long before they had food and jawa juice, none of it quite familiar to Luke, but Anakin looked more than happy to have it. 

"Kind of wish they'd told me to bring a couple of my own men, but Thire's solid, and he'll pick someone good to go with us," Anakin started in a low voice. "But what are we going for?"

"Proof of exactly who Darth Sidious is when he isn't pretending to be a decent human being, if I'm lucky and he's already started building his personal house of horrors," Luke answered once his father was neither holding anything nor chewing. 

That got Anakin's undivided attention for a long moment. "You know who Sidious is? The Sith that has manipulated this whole kriffin' war from day one? Dooku's Master, Sidious?"

Luke nodded once, meeting the steel-shining blue of his father's eyes. "I do. From my end of history, it's impossible not to know." 

Anakin watched him long and intently. "It's someone I'm going to deny it could be. That's why they told you to tell me, because of who you must be in relation to me."

"It would have been nice if they'd warned me you were this perceptive," Luke replied, half-amused and half saddened, "but... yes." 

There had been in some of the history he'd read, notes that showed the Chancellor had taken an interest in his father very early -- /Ben, why couldn't you have told me _that_?/ -- and often pressed for him to be in the thick of things. "I'd say so." 

Anakin centered himself, thinking of Padmé, wondering if he'd be able to get her alone to tell her who this man was on their mission. He then carefully laid his palms flat on the table, and reached for Snips.

//Just anchor for me, Snips.// They'd been practicing this, as her emotions and his tended to run hot and hard, so they were learning to help each other center more.

He felt her steady in the bond, a calm haven from any storm Luke unleashed.

"Tell me."

Oh, that was so much like Leia. Bracing herself for terrible news and utterly resolute in the face of it... he couldn't smile, couldn't do anything but feel his chest hurt and regret wash through him. "All right," he agreed quietly. "The man I knew as the Sith Emperor, Darth Sidious... was born Sheev Palpatine." 

If he had not already anchored in Ahsoka, Anakin was positive he would have tried to kill Luke for those words, because all of his mind surged with hate and anger… and she was there, beating it back with him, keeping her panic away from the shielding she threw up, because his mind was not his own, not fully. Anakin fought the pulse of anger, the words telling him Luke was a liar, a traitor sent to destroy everything.

Luke was used to the blazing wellspring of his father's hatred, the malevolent power he could bring to bear... and suddenly things made sense. He knew the Sith gifts of warping another to their will, had seen them work on himself, on Mara, on Kyp, and he sank himself into the light and reached across the space between them, both of his hands settling onto his father's upper arm. He used the physical connection between them to link with him and wrap him in the light -- making sure not to damage that connection to what had to be his student, since it wasn't Ben -- as he did. 

//Father,// he said, letting his love and respect show, //let me help guard you. I know how to fight this.// 

Anakin forced himself to breathe, choosing a very careful rhythm that was not for meditation, just for calming. He listened to Luke, felt the energy that was his _son_ sinking into him, and used it to fight the impulses. So many points in his mind felt foggy, but with Luke bolstering him, adding his strength, with Ahsoka holding the anchoring lines, he slowly forced himself to look at those and _unmake_ the web of darkness between them.

He was sweating with effort, and starting to shake, when he finally had the murderous rage completely evicted from his mind and soul, so that he could actually see Luke and reach over to gently cover the man's hand with his prosthetic.

//I… thank you,// he told Luke, before gently reassuring his padawan that she could fade back. He even smiled at her demand that he contact her soon. "He… I thought he was my friend. The only one I had for so long."

//Of course, Father,// Luke answered, soft, as a momentary wave of coldly, savagely protective rage pounded in the back of his mind. /Ben, your Jedi truths are really stupid./ He moved, a little, opening up his body to offer his Father an embrace, the comfort of human contact against such a betrayal. "I -- that's not something anyone ever told me. I'm so, **so** sorry, Anakin." 

Anakin accepted the hug, leaning into him far longer than probably necessary, but this was his _son_ and that meant he and Padmé did manage something together.

"So we're going to look for evidence, and that's pretty important for breaking all the lies… when I just want to go over to his place and let myself in and introduce him to my lightsaber," Anakin said with a touch of fervor, but he was in control. The plan would have to be enough.

If he was betting, there would still, eventually, be a fight, and he would be part of it.

Luke held him in close, just staying quiet, his hand moving a little on his shoulder as his father slowly calmed and finally spoke. He understood that wish -- oh, he understood that wish so well. "We are," he agreed, "and -- I can't say I don't completely agree with that impulse. 

"After everything he's done to our family, I'd really like to do _exactly_ the same. But I don't know what machinations or dying commands he might manage to set off."

"We have to make certain he can't," Anakin said fiercely. "The _Vod'e_ , the Jedi, the Republic… we need to make sure everyone is safe from him."

There was so much ferocity in him. So much like Leia in the way he found something to defend and settled in against all comers. Those eyes were the color of his... but the shine in them was all Leia, right now. He hadn't, a moment ago, known that 'vod'e' meant brothers/brotherhood, but he did now. It sang across the connection between them, along with all of Anakin Skywalker's commitment to seeing that everyone was protected, that people were safe, and Luke nodded at him. "I know. I _know_. 

"And we _are_ going to. I'm not going to let the Temple fall this time around." 

Anakin nodded and drew himself up straight, shifting to where he could grip Luke's shoulder in reassurance and commitment. "Let's eat. They'll be waiting for us, if I'm right on who Master Yoda was trying to get; Padmé would have already been buzzing Organa to answer."

Luke studied his face for a moment, nodded, and leaned into that hand... though he blinked for a moment at the idea of Leia's adoptive father and their father working together, of the friendly tone in his voice. "All right. 

"I actually get to meet our mother..." 

"Our?" Anakin asked, curious and hopeful all in one. To have children… would he leave the Order? Would Padmé take a diplomatic marriage to hide the children? What would the future be that Anakin had more than one gift of a child?

"Yeah, our. Leia," Luke answered with a smile, "my twin sister. She looks... very much like our mother."

Anakin smiled, softly, at the idea of that. "You look like me, in many ways. I could see that even before they said your name." He turned to his food, working on it with the appetite he rarely let control him, usually too strung out by mission needs to do more than chew on the ration bars Rex or Ahsoka pushed into his hands so he didn't starve.

Luke flashed a moment's smile at him, then turned his attention to the food as well, working his way around the plate quick and hungry, but taking the time to savor the flavors, the cuisine one he didn't know but definitely enjoyed. It didn't take long for the two of them to leave empty plates behind. 

Anakin slipped some credits under his plate; Dex rarely let him pay, so this would be a treat in his own mind.

"C'mon; you fly us back." He wanted to see his son handle traffic, even if he usually hated for others to fly. Having had to hone Ahsoka and coach a few clones had helped him get past that, though.

That had him grinning again, wanting his hands on the controls... and he was fairly certain he knew what it took for his father to give up the helm of any craft he was in. That he would, to him... Luke settled in the pilot's seat, learning the controls in a few moments. He stretched his attention out a little, checking on the Coruscant traffic, lifted the speeder off, and darted into the chaos that was this city in full swing. 

Through and up, past and around larger craft (and smaller), and Luke let himself play a little. There was no one to be scandalized at Jedi Master Luke Skywalker behaving like a pilot instead of a respected Elder, so why the kriff not? 

Anakin was smiling on the lift, and even laughing as Luke let himself play with the traffic, urging him on. It was a much-needed palate cleanser before they would be back at the stifling Temple, with its rules and restrictions on how he was supposed to act. He enjoyed the flight back more than he had expected, and was still smiling when they landed.

"Come on; I need to check in with Ahsoka before we go back to the Council," he said, guiding Luke toward the _Twilight_. "You can look over her controls while I do that." He led them up the open ramp, and patted Artoo in passing as he went to use the ship comm.

His father's laughter wrapped warm and soft around his more than slightly bruised heart, and Luke had willingly let piloting smooth away some of his own upset, steadying him. He willingly headed up into the ship... and then Artoo was there. 

"Hi, Artoo," Luke said quietly, stopping for a moment, though he knew the droid didn't know him. He knew Artoo, and he wasn't going to just walk past him. 

The droid swiveled his dome to study Luke, then beeped back at him in a polite and friendly hello. Anakin smiled at that too; Artoo was a true friend, and would never be away from Anakin's family, not if he had any say in it.

"Snips…" Anakin said as the comm connected, and her image appeared instantly. "Joint mission for the Senate, a little weird, so … sorry?"

She searched his face, tested the bond, then nodded. "Gotcha, Skyguy. We'll hold things down here. Master Gallia is supposed to be reinforcing Master Kenobi, so we should just be doing long range sweeps until you're back."

"Alright. Keep Rex from getting too bored, though."

An off-screen 'sir!' verified that the clone captain was pretty close by, and Snips actually grinned.

"I'm on that!" 

They cut comms, and Anakin just turned to watch Luke familiarize himself with the antique rust-bucket Anakin had restored and enhanced.

Luke was doing just that, fascinated and intent, his eyes and fingers tracing out how some of the systems worked, bringing up displays to evaluate the ship's sensor capabilities and responsiveness. He knew ship design hadn't changed all that much in the last two centuries, it wasn't difficult to manage, but some of this -- 

\-- he turned, asking what he only intended as a quick question... 

... and half an hour later, Anakin's wrist comm buzzed. 

+++++

Padmé Amidala, Riyo Chuchi, and Bail Organa gathered with Commander Thire and another trooper, as well as Master Kit Fisto, to meet with Anakin in a briefing room. Only, Anakin walked in with another Jedi that none of the Senators, or the troopers, knew. Kit settled back to watch how this went, as the accusations about to be leveled were going to possibly rock the very foundation of the Republic.

"Senators. Commander Thire. Timber, isn't it?" Anakin greeted, and the other trooper nodded, brightening to be recognized by the Hero with No Fear. "Master Fisto. My apologies if you were waiting; I wanted to make certain my relief pilot understood the workings of the ship we'll be using."

"Commendable," Bail said, speaking up. "We're told we are here to pursue an investigation that will provide evidence of who Darth Sidious is, but I do not quite understand why this requires three Senators."

Anakin's face darkened some, but he caught his control easily, for him, having worked through his negative feelings toward a plan that worked in his head. "Because Count Dooku didn't actually lie, all those years ago, to my Master. Sidious is manipulating things from within the Senate."

Over a decade of being hunted by stormtroopers, of reflexes honed to far deeper than thought had frozen Luke in the doorway at the gleam of light from white armorplas, his body falling into combat-ready, right foot back, before the differences started to process. 

Both men in the armor had their helmets under their left arms, not sealed on. The faces were identical, dark-haired and deeply tanned with deep brown eyes, but the armor -- both were painted with a brilliant red down arms and legs. One's helmet had a red set of electrobinocs attached and flipped back. That one had more red than the other, and a brilliant shine of white in an intricate design showed on his left upper arm. There was something over his shoulders, too, not just a single-shoulder pauldron but one that was half collar and half armor, upswept to the left, made of solid sections of grey-black rather than white... Individuality, in _stormtrooper_ armor? 

The visors were different, too. Angled slits like Boba Fett's, not the blank almost insectoid eyes of stormtrooper helmets, a ridge down the center top, different mouth, different collar... not stormtroopers. Not Imps at all, not threats. Not threats, he had to tell himself again, before he could refocus on the sounds around him and catch his father's last words. Before he could make himself take a step to pick back up on his right side, and look at the other people in the room. 

Master Fisto, of course. The man who'd spoken was Senator Organa, and the feel of him told Luke a great deal about why his sister loved him so much. The blue-skinned woman must be Senator Chuchi, and the other... 

/Hello, mother,/ he thought, unable to look anywhere but at her now that he'd managed to focus on something that wasn't that particular refraction of light and had checked the rest of the room. 

Senator Chuchi, despite her youth, spoke up then. "Such a charge is a grave one to make, General Skywalker," she said softly. "And yet you bring us here to go gather evidence rather than present it?"

"Pardon, Senator, but in order to properly pursue an investigation of one of _your_ members, it was deemed necessary to have your assistance from the earliest point possible," Master Fisto said in reply to that. "Our ally, Jedi Knight Luke, has found two avenues of exploration, one nearer than the other," he added.

Padmé looked to the stranger, wondering at his presence, and at the fact Anakin seemed so easy near him, despite her being positive she had never seen him nor heard mention of him.

"I am asking you all to trust me to finish this briefing on my ship," Anakin said, projecting his calm and trading heavily on his reputation as the Republic's hero. "In the interest of evading any unwanted surveillance."

Kit had been able to feel nothing from behind Luke's shields, but he had seen and scented the change in his new friend's body (as for a moment, Anakin Skywalker was not the deadliest being in the room) on first sight of Master Yoda's Commander and trooper. He was concerned, at that... and more impressed at how swiftly Luke had mastered the reaction. Had he to bet, he would say none of the civilians in the room -- all of them smart and observant people -- had noticed. 

His mother's eyes were curious, sharply intrigued, and Luke couldn't take his gaze from her. Beautiful as Leia had been, younger than his sister now, he thought, and without the strands of silver that three children and the weight of the Republic had laid on Leia's shoulders. What was intriguing her so much about him? Could she, too, feel the connection between them?

Riyo Chuchi spoke then, her head tilted slightly to the side with her large gold-dark eyes studying them both, before she nodded slowly. "I can understand that, Master Jedi. And if you think that the Sith Lord could spy even here within the Temple, I am more concerned yet." She glanced to Senator Organa, then Senator Amidala -- who was not looking anywhere but at the stranger, how odd -- she said, "But I think we must do as you suggest." 

"Thank you, Senator Chuchi," Anakin said, giving her a small smile for the support.

"Lead us, Knight Skywalker, so that our curiosity can be slaked," Bail told him.

Anakin nodded, and guided them all back to the _Twilight_ , staying in step with Luke so he behaved discreetly toward his wife. Padmé, likewise, made certain to partner with Riyo, knowing the young Senator was still growing into her confidence.

Luke walked the Temple, his attention splitting between his father at his side and his mother a few steps behind, until they made it back to the _Twilight_ and he moved to find a place to settle in and listen, help when he could -- or take over, if he had to. He wound up settled back against a bulkhead, next to Master Fisto, as the Senators found their own places. 

Artoo closed the ramp, sealing the ship, and whirred back to Anakin's side, bumping up under his hand. Senator Organa shook his head slightly at the oddly... empathic behavior of the droid before he looked at the young Jedi at the top of their oblong ring with a cock of a brow. 

"Thank you, Artoo," Anakin said, before focusing on all of the assembled. "Darth Sidious is in the Senate, and worse, he's trusted by most of us, in some degree or other." The dark anger was held at bay; he needed them to listen to him, yet not a one failed to see it in the way his eyes darkened, and his prosthetic clenched. "We have two leads to gather evidence on, and I believe my 'friendship' with the Chancellor is well-known to all of you.

"By which I mean, that man has been cultivating me, shaping me to potentially be a threat within the Order itself, based on reactions I had when I was informed."

Padmé's reaction spiraled from shock to self-anger, to rage, in the span of heartbeats. That man had used her, had possibly harmed Anakin deeply, and all to gain this power?!

Senator Chuchi went completely pale, a shocking look with her coloration, even as Bail Organa's complexion went florid as shock and anger both warred, his experience allowing him, in hindsight, to truly see the power-manipulations.

Luke felt the anger vibrating through the ship, all three of the Senators suddenly and purely angry at the manipulation and betrayal, his father's anger flaring sharp... and he reached for him through the Force, offering his shoulder, his reassurance, the way he would for any of his students or his sister, giving him his love and his faith. 

He couldn't do the same for his mother, not consciously -- she wouldn't knew what he was doing, or really be able to sense it -- but the torrent of her pure, clear anger rippled just as strongly across his senses. Anger... and guilt, and a thought 'that man used me to do this!' that he couldn't avoid hearing, and that made him love her a little more. That was so much like Leia. 

Kit tried not to breathe in the scents of shock and rage -- he did _not_ need anyone else's, not with what Anakin had just revealed. The Chancellor had been actively harming the boy he called a friend, doing something to.. to twist him? To encourage Sith habits in him, right here under their eyes, while the entire Order did his bidding? 

No, he did not need anyone else's anger, he was having quite enough trouble with his own. 

And what in the names of all the oceans was that that Luke was doing with the Force?! 

Commander Thire looked more startled than anything, because _Anakin Skywalker_ was a beloved legend among the _Vod'e_. Something twitched a little in his head; the Chancellor was his Supreme Commander after all. Beside him, Timber flinched.

//Thanks, Luke. I've got it,// Anakin promised his son, but oh that was a useful trick. Something more than what he and Ahsoka were working on, maybe.

"Let's go," Padmé said firmly. "We can't have much time at all, given how frequently he has obviously seen events to make them work in his favor."

"Agreed," Bail said, making way for Anakin to get to the pilot's position.

//You're welcome,// Luke answered as he followed him up, slipping into the co-pilot's seat. "Foresight is one of Darth Sidious' strongest gifts, it's very true," he agreed with his mother's words once he'd settled, knowing she wasn't far behind them.

"We should probably strap in," Riyo said in a small voice. "I've heard he's an energetic pilot," she added, trying to make her mind actually wrap around the revelation.

Padmé did follow, watching as this stranger slipped into the co-pilot seat and Anakin seemed to expect it, possibly even looked forward to it as they both prepped for the trip. She had a million questions she wanted to ask, as she chose to sit on the floor beside where Artoo had rolled and plugged in at.

++++

By the time they came out of hyperspace into the sublight space around Byss, Luke knew there was sweat soaked through his clothing down his back, under his arms and around his neck. Making it through tightly packed mass of stars and gravity wells in the Deep Core was difficult enough on a lane. Coming at it sideways and trusting to the Force to tell them to react swiftly enough... that wasn't hard; it was agonizing. 

He felt better when a glance sideways showed him that his father was in similar shape. Byss opened out in front of them, and he started drawing his concentration back. 

Anakin noticed, more than anything, that this world was pulsing within the Force. That had helped him with his piloting, not that any hyperlane was truly marked to reach this place. He could feel its pull, calling for him to come and see the world so steeped in the Force. That, along with everything else that had been revealed, had his nerves strung tight.

Thank all the stars Obi-Wan nor Ahsoka were with him this time, going to a world like this!

"You feel it," Luke murmured softly, his eyes still on his father. "And it's... purer, now. Not so corrupted as it -- " was? will be? " -- would be, if Sidious is not stopped now. It's... so different." 

"Well, as long as we don't lose days or more of our time here," Anakin said pessimistically. "If you get to remember any advice from me? Don't ever go to a planet called Mortis. I still don't know what happened there, but my Captain swears we were only out of sight for a short time, and I know I was as exhausted as if it had been hours of intense combat."

If Anakin focused on the wry humor, maybe he'd quit wanting to start piloting their way right back out. There was a menace, even in all that … blended? … balanced Force he could feel. There was Darkness, but the Light was there as well.

"So noted," Luke agreed, his mouth twisting slightly as he tucked that name away for later. "But you're going to have to tell me that one again later." 

Because if he had a single thing to say about it, he as he stood right now was never going to exist. He looked down at the planet for several moments, orienting himself. "Okay, I know where we are now," he finally said, and wrapped his hands lightly around the controls again, looking out across the region of space they were in. No orbiting gauntlet of Star Destroyers, that was a definite plus, but what was -- 

"Oh, kriff," he said, realizing their first hurdle, as a glint of light from the sun showed him one defense. "That's a Golan -- but it's so small..." 

"Don't worry, kid, I've got this." Anakin focused on the Golan, pulling the theory of it back to the front of his mind. They weren't seeing much use yet, but had been deployed in systems they had cleared that just needed a warning to the Seppies not to come back.

With luck, he could just evade its sensors, and not have to destroy it. While he doubted any communication got out of here without significant lag and interference, it would eventually hit a relay, and Anakin did not want the kriffing bantha fodder that was the Chancellor to have any warning of his downfall.

So he gave himself over to the Force instincts that had guided him into and through more near-fatal encounters than he could count, and evaded the thing to get his ship down on the planet. 

Luke sank into the Force himself, opening his hands on the controls so as not to be any interference, as he 'listened' to what his father was doing, trying to learn as much as he could while he was still here, here where there were so many that were properly trained. Within a few moments, he realized that Anakin Skywalker's intuition was far beyond his, but it was still something he could follow. The irony of being called 'kid' by his father, who was in years lived younger than he was, had him smiling as he did so. Captivated by the skill on display, he didn't have time to watch the Golan on the scanners as well. 

Anakin's incomparable piloting ability saw them down through the Golan's sensor array... which only meant that Luke's eyes tried to be everywhere at once, looking for any sign of the terror-inspiring H-K droids... but no. Those shouldn't even be a theory yet. 

The Force wrapped around him, strong and warm and welcoming, not cold and tainted and crackling with evil, and he sighed in quiet relief. 

"I am fairly certain that was even more spectacular than when you took out the control ship, Ani," Padmé said from where she had been resting, made comfortable with the padding from the tiny berth Ahsoka had bullied Anakin into adding. 

Anakin didn't even look back at her; he smiled broadly. "And you got to be here for this ride," he answered her, amused. "Instead of practicing aggressive negotiations with that poodoo."

"Mmm," Padmé replied, sounding so much like Leia about to tear into Han that he felt a touch of a grin on his lips, "it's just a pity I wasn't a little _more_ aggressive, looking at it from this side."

"Don't do that to yourself, Padmé," was Anakin's instant reply, "you couldn't know how much trouble he'd be.

"Even if you and Ahsoka have the same opinion," he added after a minute, remembering how many times Ahsoka had bared her teeth in telling how she and Master Unduli had lost the Viceroy.

"Hmm. Your padawan shares a lot of my opinions," Padmé said, calming herself. She moved to stand, unconsciously moving to the place that would normally have been occupied by Rex. "What will we be looking for, Luke?" she asked, refraining from the title as he had asked earlier in their trip, before it became too dangerous to talk.

"At this point?" Luke replied, "I'm honestly not certain. I know _where_ to go, not what we'll see when we get there.

"I know, that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Speaking of getting there, though... if I may?" The 'father' he left silent, though it was resting in the link between them. 

"All yours, Luke," Anakin said, giving control over to his copilot, which continued to amaze Padmé.

"Then we'll have to trust in the Force to guide us there," she said before deciding that sitting on her cushions was safer, when Luke had to maneuver to avoid an atmospheric mine.

"Nicely done," Anakin praised, before reaching out with the Force to try and feel them to deactivate them, if any more were present.

"Thanks," Luke replied, focused on what he was doing, but not so much that he couldn't be happy with the praise. 

Byss looked so different, without the sprawl of the Imperial Citadel towering over a quarter of the planet. With life actually plentiful, and none of it tortured and -- 

\-- well, that was a problem. 

At this point, there shouldn't be much if any sentient life on this planet, but ahead, where he knew the greatest of the spires should be, there were certainly sentient beings. Not of a type he knew, he thought, from the touch of their thoughts, but... a complication. "Great. We've got company ahead. 

"Can you tell if they've noticed us?" 

"Not my best gift," Anakin admitted, but he reached out and concentrated… before his eyes all but flashed with anger. "Padmé, they're Geonosians!" he snapped, making her breath hitch with distress and anger alike.

"In the heart of the Deep Core?! And we would have two with us who don't carry weapons!" 

Anakin snorted at that. "Three Jedi and two troopers should be plenty for how few of them I feel, but there's likely droids, if they're here."

By droids, Luke knew, Anakin meant the battle droids that had been in the hours of data he'd plowed through with Master Fisto. He was, he had to admit, interested in seeing them, in finding out if he was up to that sort of combat. The more interesting thing to him was his mother's reaction to the species. 'Geonosians'... that was the race of insectoid beings that ran the foundries of the Separatist Alliance, weaponsmiths and soldiers, he thought. 

Five -- six, counting Padmé (who, if she was half as much like Leia as he thought, could never be left out) -- against the chatter of presence he felt? Anakin had a great deal of self-confidence, but then he recalled everything he'd read about his father's adventures came back to mind and he knew it was merited. "There's no dangerous native life, anyone up for a few klick stroll on a paradise world?" 

Padmé laughed brightly. "Is this the point where I say follow my lead and try not to start any trouble?" she asked, cutting through half of Anakin's tension as he gave a quick, shy smile at her for that reminder of their first encounter with the Geonosians.

"I don't think there will be a diplomatic solution, my lady," he teased right back, but he then looked at Luke. "Yeah, let's get on the ground, and move toward the thickest mix of the Geonosians. They'll be near whatever it is we're meant to find."

Feeling the love that suffused the air between his parents, the passion and affection both, just left Luke more confused about how what had happened to his father ever could have, but he found himself smiling in appreciation of the shared joke before he headed for a piece of open ground he'd seen earlier to land the ship. They managed that without trouble (which more than vaguely amazed him, thinking of previous encounters here and the myriad layers of defenses). 

He breathed the air once in they'd done everything they needed to before opening the hatch and dropping the ramp with a quiet sigh. Nothing polluted the breeze. There was none of what he had encountered before, no pain and misery a scent all its own in the air. Only the paradise that the Empire had promised. 

Shaking his head away from those thoughts, he looked back at the others. 

Commander Thire and Timber were taking rear guard, it looked like, as Senator Organa and Senator Chuchi walked forward and centered from them. Padmé was at the apex of a triangle with her peers, but a small, deadly blaster was in her hand at her side, just in case. Artoo was off to the side, rolling not far behind Anakin, and not even protesting at the uneven ground. Kit had moved to the other side and front of the group, leaving the actual point to Luke.

"The Geonosians will be a firm enough guide for Master Fisto and I," Anakin said, still privately pleased by the buzz that accusation had set among the rest of the party. "But if your instincts pull you, you need to be leading us, Luke."

Padmé was absolutely dying to know the actual truth of the strange Jedi, for Anakin to concede not only piloting but point?

It wasn't so much Luke's instincts as his knowledge, but he nodded his agreement and reoriented himself against the pull of the planet to pick up a quick jog. He did know where to go... and he reached into the Force before very long, centering himself and listening to it instead of just what he knew.

There wasn't much difference, and this was an easy planet to jog on, head towards where they needed to be. He saw the ruin rearing up from the surrounding forest well before they reached those presences, and growled quietly to himself. Trust the Emperor to taint even impossibly ancient places with his foul designs, to eradicate even the knowledge of them. He should have known. 

Kit Fisto trotted along not far behind young Luke and off to his right, keeping a wary ear -- and eye -- out. Anything that involved that man, who had been able to hide from all of them for so long was likely dangerous and protected both. 

The Senators were keeping their eyes out, but the planet looked and felt so peaceful. It was hard to believe, even as rough as the trip to get here had been, that anything could come of it.

Then Anakin froze in place, automatic hand signal of a closed fist raising. Kit and the clones obeyed as instantly as Artoo, with the Senators only making it another step before they too stopped.

Another heartbeat, and Anakin signed for them to crouch down, something they did as Master Fisto obeyed the sign. 

//Pressure sensors,// he sent to the two Jedi, having caught the slightest gap in the camouflage over one as it settled back into place, just ahead of them, after a small creature had tripped it.

Luke had been well ahead, but he had felt his father's response and frozen in place, even as his eyes scanned the ground ahead. He'd looked back in time to catch both the hand signal and the meaning behind it, and dropped. //Glad you caught that,// he replied, while mentally kicking himself a few times.

//You're not a ground based fighter. It shows in how you move.// Anakin didn't sound upset by it; he was pleased his son hadn't had to fight the kind of campaigns he'd come through.

He looked to Kit, then, and back at the group. He indicated for Artoo to take off… and the droid got on his boosters and went over the area the pressure sensor was in, scanning until he was able to find safe ground again. There, he landed, and waited, marking the spot. Anakin lifted Padmé then, knowing she wouldn't squeak and could hold her own with the blaster long enough for a charge from the rest of them if they did get spotted, levitating her across the sensor field to Artoo.

That served as the warning to the rest, and instruction to Kit on what to do.

Luke had nearly bitten through his tongue at Artoo's sudden lift off the ground on tiny repulsors, startled and wondering what had ever happened to those. They sure would have come in handy in a few scrapes they'd gotten into over the years... oh, well. 

//No,// Luke agreed, //I'm really not much more than competent in a ground fight.// Watching Anakin move his mother and then the troopers so easily was still a little startling, even with everything he'd learned to do, but at least he knew he could make that jump. 

Kit, grin back in place, made a hand wave to the two other Senators and then lifted both in one smooth go, putting them over with Padmé as Anakin was handling the troopers. Only then did he gather himself and take a running jump, aided by the Force, to get over the affected area.

Anakin waited only long enough for Luke to do the same before he got himself across. //Those things were all around the lab I almost lost your mother and my padawan in,// he told Luke grimly. //Makes me more apt to notice them.//

//I'm not sure if I ever want to hear that story, or not,// Luke replied. He picked his spot on point again, watching the ground much more carefully this time. He couldn't kriff this up, not with both of his parents right behind him for the first time in his entire life. 

They got another ten meters forward and then Anakin sent Luke a 'wait' impulse through the Force, moving forward to his position. He scanned ahead, not liking how the terrain was actually going to bunch them up. This soon after the sensors… he concentrated and felt for the life presences ahead of them.

Just beyond the bottleneck caused by the terrain and fauna, there were Geonosian drones, probably with droids, and they felt like warriors. 

Luke saw the change of his expression and his mouth quirked slightly, "I think this is your show now? Or at least, your lead. Right behind you, though." 

"Best place to be once I get going," Anakin assured him wryly. He then looked back at Thire and Timber. "Stay on rear guard, keep your ears open for the skies and the flanks."

"Sir, yes sir!" both answered firmly.

"Senator Amidala, I'd find it helpful if you stay behind the line of my lightsaber this time," he added to Padmé.

"Then I suggest, Master Jedi, that you not leave holes along your side defenses this time," she answered him evenly.

There might have been a choked noise from Bail at that, and Riyo was definitely smiling.

Luke flicked his glance from one to the other, grinning at the teasing byplay. His parents had loved each other. No, his parents _did_ love each other, and this time, he was going to grow up knowing that. He nodded to himself, once, and got ready for what was coming. He felt badly for the Geonosians, it was unlikely they really wanted to be here, but entire worlds' freedom and safety depended on their not being interrupted here. 

Kit knew there was something more between Senator and Jedi, but he was not one to call attention to it. He prepared to move on Anakin's signal… which was going to be the surge in his adrenal function apparently!

Anakin moved at Force Speed to take the fight into the small squad, knowing he had to get both the drones and the droids before any of either thought to make a comm call to authority. He went after the drones by necessity; they tended to think of such things quicker than the droids.

Fortunately, the droids were B1s, easy work for Padmé's blaster, as she had trained on their weaknesses after the invasion of her world. Likewise, Thire and Timber focused on the droids, leaving the Jedi to deal with the Geonosians.

So impossibly fast. It wasn't the first time Luke had had that thought, but he wasn't far behind Anakin -- or Master Fisto -- in the charge. That became a lot easier as weapons started being fired at him. 

Anakin was going for brutal efficiency, but that only meant his kills were quick, clean, merciful even. Kit was as skillful in his motions, even as Padmé and the troopers showed their accuracy with blasters to good effect. In moments, there were no functional droids or living drones to report the intrusion into the security zone around the work being done to prepare for the Master Sith.

The sheer speed of the fight still had Luke amazed, but it was a relief, too. Not setting off more of the defenses was definitely to be hoped for. Luke clipped his lightsaber back to his belt and moved towards the ruin, slipping through the doors and following the light tug of the Force to where he needed to be. 

It wasn't long at all before he knew exactly what he was headed towards, and he muttered a low curse. Of course the cloning tubes would already be in place, of course Palpatine would already be hunting for his immortality. 

"What are those?" Anakin asked dangerously, even as both troopers twitched. The cylinders looked nothing like batching apparatus, nothing like Kaminoan tech, and yet everyone knew they were looking at a clone process.

"Luke, do you know who the template for the clones is?" Kit asked softly, worried about the answer.

Bail checked on Thire and Timber both; the clones struggled so hard for the Republic, and if other cloning sources were available, he could see it affecting them adversely. Thire had taken a deep breath, then he moved to where he could inspect the technology more closely.

It passed through Timber's mind that the tubes looked isolated, like they weren't meant to be brothers, and that seemed wrong to him.

Kit had already answered his father, and he turned to look at the other Master. "I do. They are -- or should be -- clones of Sidious. Made and then kept in stasis for him to... transfer his consciousness to when using the Dark Side as he does destroys his body." 

"To -- what?" Riyo asked, her voice shocked and revolted. 

Bail shifted his concern to the young woman, laying a warm hand on her shoulder in comfort, but he too looked at Luke, until the sound of a lightsaber igniting brought his eyes back to Anakin.

"No, An… Master Jedi!" Padmé said instantly. "They had no more choice than your men. And just as your men are not the bounty hunter, these people are not the Chancellor."

Thire looked over at the General, even as he realized that all the rumors about the Naboo Senator were true. She did believe in the _Vod'e_.

"You're right, Senator." The lightsaber went away. "But we cannot evac them yet. We need data capture," and that got Timber moving, pulling out slicing gear from his utility pouches, "and holo recordings of all we can observe."

"I took some of the fight with the drones and battle droids," Riyo said, focusing on that to pull away from her abhorrence at Sith methods.

"Thank you, Senator," Luke said, moving to where he could help Timber set up -- he at least understood the controls for these obscene things -- to slice into them. Seeing the man's face, the obvious tension and unease, Luke wondered what he was thinking as he worked. "The data from these should be fairly damning, but I think searching the rest of the ruin would be wise...."

"Of course," Anakin said sharply, obviously ill-at-ease, still suffering from the complete and utter betrayal. Bail looked his way, then at the others.

"If I may say so, as much as searching is needed, I feel it wise to remain together, rather than split up. It might make the search faster, but our strength is in numbers and secrecy," he offered. That took some tension from the young Jedi Knight; he'd obviously been weighing security versus efficiency.

Padmé shot Bail a narrow-eyed look. She'd been hoping to get the Jedi Anakin had so bafflingly quickly bonded to and her husband off alone for long enough to find out what in the names of the saints was really going on... but he was almost certainly right. "You're right, Bail. I don't care for the idea of separating, either."

"Agreed," Luke admitted, and moved towards his father now that Timber had things well under control, though he was a little disappointed. He'd half-hoped... but oh, well. And this was certainly no place to get separated, even without the layer on layer of lethal security there would have one day been here. 

"Senator Chuchi, are you unwell?" Kit asked as her scent continued to exude the sourness of the mind overriding the body.

"Ever since I met the 501st, Master Jedi, I have been aware that we need to be far more careful with the brave men of Kamino," she said. "But to find such technology elsewhere, with even more sinister purpose than merely making war… it is powerfully disturbing."

"Made worse, Senator, than any of my brothers," Thire told her. "I can't find any hook-ups for the life-learning modules my brothers knew. It's like these poor sods aren't being taught how to live, let alone exist."

"And doesn't that speak volumes," Anakin said. "If I were so unscrupulous as to make a … copy, to use, I'd at least try to give it more skills than I already have."

"That's because you're practical and always want to better yourself to help others," Padmé offered. "He probably sees himself as perfect already."

Luke snorted dark agreement with Padmé's last words, before his eyes sought Commander Thire again. "They're not, sir. Clones made from these cylinders... they get a combination of holo-flash training and implanted brain patterns, which tends to make them unstable. These, though, are probably _meant_ to be blank chips for him to take over." 

Padmé's first phrase, that 'to help others', as though that was the highest goal in his father's mind sank deep into Luke's chest and lodged there next to 'tell your sister... you were right'. He wanted to touch or hold them, but kept himself still. 

Timber had glanced towards the blue-skinned Senator, then had to quickly look away. The idea that multiple Senators, this one not even human, cared about what happened to them was more than passing strange. And besides, he had work to do. He wasn't even contemplating the other Jedi's comment about 'blank chips, because if he did, he was going to punch something he probably shouldn't. 

"I'll contact Master Shaak Ti for assistance, once we come back to rescue them," Padmé said so matter-of-factly, as if she would be the one to be responsible for them. Neither Senator contradicted her, and Thire filed it away as one more piece corroborating the 501st and 212th in their tales.

"Timber, do you have it all? Senator Organa, thank you for recording; do you think you have enough?" Anakin asked, having watched him focus on that part, since Riyo had gotten the fight. He itched to move, away from the clones that did not feel right to him in the Force. That they had no knowledge or personalities might be that wrongness. But he wasn't sure, and there were other parts of the ruins to see.

"Working on the last of the genome, sir," Timber replied, before he found the way to turn half the top of one cylinder transparent. It only took a few moments for the group to be tightly packed around the cylinder, staring down at a much-younger face of the man most of them knew well. 

Luke didn't, and was struck by the fact that the man's appearance hadn't, actually, always matched what passed for his heart. That was a slightly strange idea, to him. 

To Bail Organa, who had served in the Senate with Sheev Palpatine for... decades, at this point, seeing that younger face (the rather blatant confirmation of words he had already believed) was just one more blow. 

Padmé steeled herself against her anger, against the betrayal she felt, knowing it was nothing compared to Anakin's. She moved to where she was standing closer to him, to make room for Riyo of course, and brushed her fingers against his in hidden comfort. He took that, his fingertips curling around hers in a silent moment shared, before he spun away and walked toward the exit of this chamber, to check the passageways.

Kit, more aware of the anger in his friend than ever before, wished Obi-Wan were here, to help the young man, but he wasn't. It was a roiling anger in Anakin, tinged by the impatience of his own Nahdar Vebb, but running so much deeper than any he had ever touched before. He squared his shoulders and approached the Knight, leaving the sight of the young human behind, and spoke very quietly.

"It seems your anger would be something a Sith would wish for. I commend you, Skywalker, for such control in the face of such potent emotions," Kit told him, focusing on the positive side of Anakin Skywalker. "When this is complete, if you can find no peace in your meditations, I am available to you. With complete discretion."

Anakin had tensed a little more as Master Fisto came up behind him, something in his Force signature warning him that Kit was going to say something he wouldn't like. At first, his hand had tightened, expecting another lecture, another upbraiding for his emotions... and then Kit praised him instead, leaving him mentally stumbling and as off-balance as though Dooku had just shoved him off a building. 

He looked over his shoulder at Master Fisto, trying not to be wide-eyed or to show how surprised he was. He liked Kit, but he had been promoted to the Council and therefore had a hand in their myriad stupid decisions. So for him to openly praise him..... Anakin was as confused as he thought he had been in a good long while. "I, ah. I appreciate that last. 

"I may need to take you up on it." 

"Anakin… " Kit added in that low voice that did not carry. "I will also support you, when the time is correct, concerning the mother of your children. Not all things the Code is used to justify make sense to me." 

He knew, intimately, how hard it could be to face danger with one that was loved, and have to keep that hidden. He managed, but Anakin was so much younger, and the Senator not much older than him.

Anakin had to actually shift his weight as a dizzy kind of near-vertigo overtook him at that. The mere idea that one of the Masters of the Council would stand with him over Padmé, over the children he now wanted with her... "Thank you, Master Fisto. I -- that is -- " 

Luke glanced towards the two that had walked away, the shock and relief rippling against his mind from his father definitely preferable to that raging anger of a few moments before. He wondered what had been said... but anything that could help his father was definitely good in his estimation. 

Kit gave Anakin his trademark grin, then went over to see if he could assist Senator Chuchi a bit more from the wobbling of shock and horror against her profound sense of duty, as Timber was finishing the data pull.

Somehow, they would unravel this all, and let wiser, kinder heads like these Senators rule the Republic, Kit vowed in his heart.

+++

Bail breathed a sigh of relief as the Twilight made it away from that nightmarish series of jumps that had been needed. Nor were they yet in Coruscant's space, as Luke had advised caution in returning to the planet, just in case the Chancellor had foreseen what was coming.

Kit was in deep meditation, reaching out to the Jedi of the Council, seeking one who was actually in the Temple to let them know how everything was going. That gave Bail time to reach out to Padmé and Riyo, to determine their best plan of attack for ousting the Chancellor from power with all of their evidence.

Timber and Thire were keeping their own council on what they had seen, at least it seemed so to the Senator. When both moved past the Senators to go to the cockpit, Bail thought nothing of it.

"Sirs," Thire asked, holding out two sets of binders to Anakin. That startled the General, who took note of the missing helmets and missing DC-17s on both troopers. "We are requesting that you render us both incapable of harming you or Master Fisto."

"That makes no sense, vod," Anakin said, taking the friend approach instead of the officer one.

"Timber and I, we both keep getting twitchy about you, about all of you. When I woke from my nap, I was reaching for my blaster, to come find you. Timber stopped me, and we decided we would rather be restrained than risk this. Because something is wrong with us," Thire explained.

"I've been twitchy since the briefing, sir," Timber said. "And I want to see that soulless monster go down. So please, sir, put the binders on, and make sure we can't act on whatever it is that's wrong!"

Anakin's jaw tightened, his hand clenching on the binders -- at least it was his left -- as he looked at the brothers' faces, the unease in both sets of dark eyes. "I don't like this, _vod'e_ ," he told them, "but after what we had to do with _me_ , I understand." 

Luke's presence and will wrapping around his, fighting back the compulsions and the rage Luke exposing Palpatine had sent through him, slowly but surely evicting the compulsions from his mind... "I'll get you both secured, but then -- " 

"I'll work with them," Luke agreed with his father's half-formed plan, "I've had some experience working against indoctrinated compulsions, too." The _Eye_ came most strongly to mind, but there had been some of the captured stormtroopers, too. Especially after Kyp... "We'll fix this." 

"Of course you will," Thire said, his faith in the Jedi unshaken, despite the way his mind kept fighting him. Timber just held his wrists out to be locked, a sure sign of his belief, as no brother seemed to cope with confinement of any kind.

"Sir," Timber did say. "We don't even work with the Guard… so whatever this is? What if it's in our brothers?"

Anakin felt his posture change even as his hands carefully locked the binders into place on each of them, that thought setting every protective instinct he had to raging. If it was in two brothers, it probably _was_ in all of them, and if it was something that took a Jedi to heal... "Then once we've got the treatment figured out, the Council will encrypt instructions and send them to every General and Commander, and I will personally haul enough of the Temple staff to Kaliida Shoals by -- whatever appendage I won't damage -- to take care of the brothers there." 

"That's because you're General Skywalker," Thire said with half a smile, before he moved to sit back against the rear bulkhead, Timber mimicking him on the other side. "No better General other than our own," he added. Every vod with a good general thought theirs was the best, but Skywalker was held up as almost as good.

"We're safe in your hands, and our brothers will be too," Timber echoed. 

Luke stared from the troopers to his father, then set his shoulders and moved to Timber, as the lesser ranked, to start helping. He could not even believe, when Anakin Skywalker had set him on edge from the anger issues, just how strongly the clone troopers believed in him. He could not get past that both had come and asked to be restrained, trusting Anakin Skywalker to fix it. Maybe, just maybe, all of this was going to work out, and Luke would know a better history than he had lived in the new world that would come about.

It just left him struggling, even more, to understand how his father had ever become the same man the galaxy feared. Even knowing that some of it had been from compulsions the Emperor had lain down, he still couldn't understand. 

+++ 

Anakin knew perfectly well that Padmé wanted to talk to them -- to him, and to Luke -- but between the close quarters of the _Twilight_ , the trouble with the clones (and oh, Dooku and Sidious were going to _pay_ for what they'd tried to do with the _Vod'e_ , with his brothers, his men) that had every Healer on the planet scrambling, and Padmé's own work in the Senate, he'd had to let more than two cycles go by (cycles where he threw himself into one of the workshops, trying to figure out how to fry the circuitry threatening his brothers' freedom and sanity) before he could slip he and Luke both out of the Temple and into 500 Republica. He was thankful all over again that Padmé had her own landing platform attached to her quarters -- though he worried about that regularly -- and that Artoo had no problems taking the speeder down to a parking level and making his way up the turbolifts. 

"Come on," he told Luke as he walked towards the shield that kept her quarters protected, "the Senate can't stay in session _that_ much longer." 

"I'm looking forward to getting to actually _meet_ her, though it was great to see how much Leia is like her when there's work to do," Luke agreed. He was half-surprised to still exist, let alone have this opportunity. Had he fractured the timelines? Did his school still exist without him, and now there would be a new future he would become a part of? 

It was all worrying, but he was applying himself in the library, studying hard, and trying to find a way to go home, if there was a home to reach. 

"Is she?" Anakin asked as he reached out and squeezed his shoulder, then laid his hand on the lock. The shield opened, and moments after they stepped in, he heard the quiet mechanical noises of Threepio bustling towards them, coming into view a few moments later. His optics blinked, and then his body shifted into that welcoming configuration Anakin had never entirely figured out, despite having written his code. 

"Master Anakin, it's so good to see you! So good indeed! Mistress Padmé is not he -- oh, I am sorry, I did not see your -- "

"Threepio, it's okay," Anakin replied, moving to cross the distance to him, soothing him despite that he was tired. "It's fine. Artoo should be up in just a few minutes. This is Luke;, he's a friend." 

"Threepio," Luke said, his eyes widening as a smile lit up his face. He felt a little less lost to see a familiar face, even if there was no way for the droid to know him. It was merely seeing and hearing the familiar bustle and vocal cadence that soothed him. "Nice to meet you."

Threepio was so shiny, the lustrous finish brighter even than that day on Yavin IV, it seemed. But, then again, at this time, Threepio was a true protocol droid, working, apparently, with Luke's mother in her senatorial functions. Or minding her home while she did such, at least. By his time, Threepio was so accustomed to the bustle of actual war efforts, even as the New Republic settled in, because the droid just kept getting into their adventures.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Sir Luke. I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations, though 'Threepio' is quite acceptable," Threepio replied, seeming slightly surprised at the greeting. "Master Anakin, Artoo will truly be here shortly?" 

"Threepio, have I ever lied to you?" 

"No, of course not! It is only that -- " 

"I know, I know. We haven't gotten in off the front lines in more than a month. Go on; we're just going to wait for Padmé. You two have fun." 

"Fun! Hah! With that impertinent little -- I'll be lucky if he doesn't get me into some ludicrous adventure -- Why he can't ever -- " 

Anakin watched as Threepio trundled away towards the exit and the turbolifts on the other side of the security, smiling. 

"He never changes from that," Luke said, his grin about as wide as it could get. "The twins may have put him through a bit of terror, but he's still just like that. From worrying fretfully over Artoo to fussing about Artoo's habits," he told Anakin. "Going so far as to offer up his own parts when Artoo's hurt."

Anakin turned his head, blinking at the smile, the relieved pleasure he could feel from his son, and he wondered for a few moments how Luke could know Artoo and yet not have known Padmé's name, not known that -- 

\-- the answer hit him, and he heard himself growl, low and protective, his jaw tightening as he said darkly, "Right. Finish writing those failsafes for _Threepio_ , too. Kriff everything if I'm having some _di'kut_ moron with his _utreekov_ up his _sheb_ decide they know better than he does and wipe his memories..." 

Luke looked at his father, then nodded. "That will be -- wait." He tipped his head to one side. "You can beat a memory wipe on a droid?" His eyes lit with the potential behind that. "If I could protect them, then maybe…" He started thinking through the ideas he'd had in the past, about eliminating that abuse he'd seen among some droid owners.

"You can if you know their programming and what you're doing," Anakin replied, smiling a little, despite his flare of temper, at Luke's instant and protective interest, "writing the ones for Artoo was harder than this should be... though Threepio's had longer and his processor is an entirely different base. But I know every line of _his_ code, and there are plenty of places in his databanks to put the copies -- yeah, definitely need to get on with that. 

"He's a free being so it _shouldn't_ be necessary, but some beings have **no** respect for any droid, no matter how advanced. Or, hell, for organic sentient life either..." 

Luke nodded. "Threepio considered Captain Antilles his former master, but Artoo often said they were _assigned_ to the _Tantive IV_ rather than claim a master," he said. "But, if I understand you correctly, Artoo should have his memories." That made Luke frown, remembering how Artoo and Ben had interacted, the way that Artoo and Yoda had been.

Anakin hissed, low in his throat, both of his hands flexing. "Threepio doesn't have a master, no matter what he calls Padmé and I; he's _free_. And so is Artoo. And he absolutely should have his memories, I made sure he couldn't be wiped or have his databanks raided without his consent after that -- Trandoshan... kidnapped him.

"But they might have been locked. Without the right access codes, he'd have been unable to tell you." 

"That makes sense. But it doesn't explain why he and Master Yoda were… antagonistic on first meeting, supposedly." Luke half-smiled at the memory. "I think Artoo may have made me believe the senile ploy more thoroughly, though, while Master Yoda was testing my patience."

Anakin stared at him. "...senile ploy?" he asked, almost despite himself, before shrugging slightly. "Artoo's not much more fond of Yoda than I am, and if -- if I -- Fell, he would be angry. And believe me, Artoo holds _grudges_." 

"You think?" Luke deadpanned at that. He'd seen the effect of those grudges, taken out on droids and organics alike. He then laughed. "They are part of our family, the whole thing. Threepio stays mostly with Leia, helping with state duties or with the twins… and the baby now, I bet. Artoo mostly is with me, though sometimes I leave him with Leia before going to the school, so he can get to know the kids and see Threepio more.

"Doesn't happen often; he hates letting me fly off in the X-Wing without him."

"Artoo hates being left alone," Anakin agreed, "and that... that's good. Wait, state duties? But doesn't she have the Force too?" 

'Twins... and the baby.' _Grandchildren_. He hadn't even really thought about children, and here he was talking to a son older than he was about the grandchildren he might have one day.... 

"She has it. Even managed a little training with me, but she's been Mon Mothma's right hand for so long, all that grooming and the need for a leader most people respect," he said. "She doesn't really have a pull toward it. But she does want me to teach the children."

"We're forbidden politics," Anakin said, shaking his head slightly at the idea of a person with the Force not wanting it, of how much the galaxy had to have changed for that rule to be so broken, "but... no matter. And Mon Mothma is a good woman. Padmé trusts her, and she's always seemed to really care." 

Luke frowned… then took a deep breath. "Because we can manipulate and bend people to our will? And it's sentient nature to think that anyone with power will abuse it." That reasoning he could see. "Which means, no matter what, proving Palpatine has Force ability immediately invalidates his position."

...was it actually that simple? 

Anakin stared at him for a moment, two, then grinned sharply. "You're right, Luke, you're right! Not that that will be easy, but..." 

But it would be safety for the _Vod'e_. 

"I can probably rig up a nutrient frame for a couple of ysalamari, and let those get near him," Luke mused. "I'm pretty sure no Sith would be able to cope with the sudden absence of the Force near them."

"You _what_? The absence of _what_?" 'Ysalamari', for some reason he knew that word, but it was... oh, right. That was the other name for Makashi, not that he'd ever known why.

"We'd have to go to Mrykr," Luke explained. "Avoid getting eaten by the vornskrs, and rig nutrient frames. Ysalamari are pretty hard to transport because of their nutritional needs and how hard it is to get them off their trees safely, but I can do it," he continued. "They are very effective. One can dampen a Force user pretty thoroughly, so a pair snuck in on either side of him? Should set off a panic of some kind." He then shrugged. "It's a thought, if the Senate can't figure out anything else."

"...I think I like the way you think," Anakin replied, though the thought of being cut **off** from the Force made his skin crawl unpleasantly. "Though that sounds... incredibly awful." 

"It's not something I recommend." Luke shook his head. "It let Mara--" His voice dropped away, a little pain at thinking of not ever seeing her again coloring his features. He got his composure back by thinking how the Mara from this timeline would **not** grow up in service to the Emperor, and would live free. With any luck, he prayed fervently. "It made things interesting."

Anakin started to ask and then paused as he heard the outer door. No, not Padmé, that was the sound of Threepio and Artoo, come back and heading for Artoo's favorite recharging spot. By the time he'd realized that, he'd decided he needed to not ask. Whoever 'Mara' was, Luke might never know her, now. "Sounds like it. 

"Kriff, I hope Ahsoka isn't driving Rex too crazy while we're here..." 

"I almost feel bad for the fact you're still here, not with her," Luke admitted. "I can't imagine what it would be like to have a one-on-one relationship with a teacher or a student that wasn't under the 'cram-it-all-in-before-we-die' restrictions I had with Ben and Yoda." He shrugged. "And I don't think I would actually have realized it was supposed to be one-on-one. I started with just me, and kept finding, and losing, Force-Sensitive kids."

There were too many hard memories in his failures.

"Yoda didn't tell you?" Anakin asked, startled almost despite himself, even as he reached to wrap his hand around Luke's shoulder. "From what you've said, you've had to basically re-create everything. Maybe your way will turn out to be better." 

"I don't want my way to be necessary," Luke told his father truthfully and passionately. "But I'm still here. So either… my line exists, and I'm stuck here, or we haven't changed enough yet." He tried to banish the ill-feelings that were plaguing him, trying to release… and he sat up straight quite suddenly. "We're very close to where Palpatine stays, aren't we? It's like his influence is pulling at the negatives I feel inside me."

Anakin nodded, though he blinked once, staring at his son. "We are. You... you can feel it that strongly?" 

He'd always found how comfortable he was around the Chancellor to be a little strange, but it was -- where Obi-Wan would get upset with him for thinking differently, or tell him he needed to let go of things, the Chancellor had always understood, and it... He raked his hand back through his hair in frustration at himself. 

"It's going to be alright, Father," Luke said softly, finding it easier to shove things away in favor of reaching out to someone else, especially this man. "And I … am probably too sensitized to it. There's a point in orbit of Endor that every Force Sensitive person avoids like crazy. It's where he died, and I was right there when that happened." Not to mention his own brushes with the Dark Side, he silently reminded himself, steeling himself against memories before they could grasp him. "Being near him, or his presence, enhances the negative feelings I have, influencing me to believe my self-doubts more strongly."

"Places the Sith die have that effect," Anakin nodded, agreeing as he looked at Luke again. So calm, and so compassionate. Quick to reach out, quick to comfort, but fearless when there was danger. "You're very much your mother's child, I think." 

"Really? I see so much of Leia in her," Luke countered, but he looked happy at the idea.

"You have her compassion," Anakin replied, glad to see his son look so pleased. "And her determination, too." 

"Huh." Luke shook his head. "I think of Leia for both of those, actually." He then sighed softly, a quiet smile on his face. "She's wonderful. She's smart, strong, defiant… I don't think there's much she can't or won't do."

"Maybe it's easier to see in someone else than it is in yourself," Anakin told him, his mouth quirking in a slight smile before he felt the brightness that was Padmé's presence coming closer. "Oh, good. She'll be in soon." 

Luke sat up sharply, and actually worried about things like his clothes and hair. Then he caught himself, and grinned. "She's already met me, and here I am worrying what I look like. Leia's rubbed off. Or Lando, and his thing about appearances."

"Lando?" Anakin asked, curious, even as he had to smile at his son's quick shift, the start at checking himself over. "You're not a tenth as nervous as I was, the first time I met her as an adult -- well. Sort of an adult, anyway? Not that Obi-Wan wouldn't say I'm _still_ not, but." 

"From what you've said, you'd been training for _years_ , and were the same age when the war started as I was when I blew up the Death Star," Luke said casually. "And Leia had already been a Senator for over a year by that point, not to mention actively in the Rebellion for at least half a decade."

The door opened then, and Padmé, in full Senatorial regalia, wearing a blue gown trimmed in golds and deep reds, came inside. She stopped short in the main room, tipping her head only slightly in surprise, mindful of the ornate hair style and headdress she was wearing.

"Hello there," she said to both, keeping herself from Anakin by force of will alone, as her eyes inspected Luke.

"Real introductions in a moment," Anakin said as he pushed himself upright and moved to his wife, his angel, the absolute center of his universe. "There's something I've been waiting days to do, first," he added as he reached out to wrap his arms around her and dip his head for a kiss. He needed her, _had_ needed her, it had been absolute torture to be so close to her throughout their hunt and not be able to ask for or even accept the comfort he'd known she wanted to offer, to have to hold himself remote and apart from her.... 

Luke watched as the Force shifted around them, all of Anakin's focus and love wrapping itself around her, almost melding into her -- the way he had seen with Leia and Han sometimes -- as he wrapped her in his arms. He heard her startled noise as he made himself look away, giving them what privacy he could when love and faith, trust and need, joy and relief were all singing at him through the Force from both of them. 

Padmé had been shocked, but if Ani thought it was safe, then she was not going to deny herself any further. She melded as close to his body as she could get, hands coming around to rest on his back, keeping him close that way. Her mouth was open to his kiss, and she made a tiny little sound at finally having him there.

They'd been separated too long this time, and then to be so close, yet too far because of others had been such torture. She let the kiss go on and on, knowing he could be recalled to the front lines any day now.

Anakin could, entirely happily, do nothing but kiss Padmé for hours on end, especially when she was holding on so close, pressing as tight as they could get to each other with Jedi and Senatorial regalia in the way. He could even when they'd gotten to spend days alone with each other, let alone after _this_... he'd said a moment, but he thought Luke would forgive him if it was minutes. His Padmé, his angel, **here** now, here where he didn't have to pretend or make himself be strong -- almost despite himself, his arms wrapped tighter around her as he got lost in the kiss for as long as Padmé would let him. 

"Missed you," he whispered in moments when his lips weren't sealed to hers, "so much," as he petted along one of her sides. 

Luke was studying a bit of art on the wall, just for something to do. 

"I missed you, Ani," she murmured, before she finally recalled that she did have a guest, and she made herself draw back some. When Anakin tried to hold her closer anyway, she giggled into the kiss. "Anakin!" 

She wanted to meet the man that Anakin allowed to pilot. She wanted to know why Anakin thought they could kiss in front of this Jedi. She wanted to know everything that had been kept from her.

"Yes, love?" Anakin asked, low, delighted at the sound of her laugh even as he kept close hold on her. 

Luke had heard Leia say 'Han!' in that exact tone so many times, and he knew how much his sister loved him... it was good to hear it from their mother to their father. He glanced over his shoulder to see if they were separated yet, then back at the art. 

"We're being rude," she said firmly, but she stole a quick kiss before firmly shifting to be under one arm and able to face the man. "I'm very curious, and would like to meet him properly."

"Right," Anakin murmured, "about that. I know we didn't say much about where Luke came from, or how he knew everything he did before we left -- but I don't want to keep it from you. Just the others. Master Fisto found Luke on Dantooine, in the heart of the old Temple there. The Force had... well, had pushed him back through time to us, to now." 

"Back? In time?" Padmé stared from the mostly strange man to her husband, then back again. "That's how you know that _he_ is Sidious." She could not help the spike in her emotions. Her entire reign as Queen, the deaths of her people, of Cordé, of the Gungans, the way she had been kept from truly stopping this war, the way Jar-Jar had been manipulated… all of it was _his_ fault, and on her shoulders for the first push of the power with her call to vote against Valorum.

There was that guilt again, the fury at being manipulated, and the grief, and Luke met her eyes, nodding slowly. Even angry and wounded, she was still as beautiful as his twin. "Yes. I didn't come back deliberately -- had no idea it was even possible -- but as soon as I knew where I was, I knew what the Force wanted me to do. 

"I think I gave Master Fisto a rather nasty shock when I gave him my full name. I'm Luke Skywalker, milady." 

She smiled at him, as it all clicked into place. It was a soft but proud look, and she moved to reach out to take his hands. "Then you are our son?" she asked, keeping her composure with practiced ease. It was incredible, the idea of time-travel, the concept of actually seeing her son in the flesh as an adult now, but… Ani trusted him, and now it made sense.

"Yes," Luke agreed, stunned at how quickly she'd come to that conclusion, how she seemed to have just accepted it in a few moments... oh. She was thinking of his father, of that he trusted him. That made a little more sense of it, and he held on a little more closely. "I am. Um.. hi, mom?" 

She laughed, a musical and warm sound. "Hello, Luke." She then tipped her head, looking at Anakin. "Did I dream you asking me about the names Luke and Leia at some point, and me telling you the Naboo fable?"

"No, I did ask," Anakin replied, his mouth quirking at her for a moment, "and you told me. I'd wondered why you'd picked those names for our son and his twin, and that was as close as I could get to asking." 

"Twins?" That made her smile more broadly, even as she squeezed Luke's hands in greeting. "Well, I need to negotiate a little more seriously with Mother for the cottage in Lake Country then." She projected peace and love on the very thought of that place, and Luke couldn't help but smile, wondering. 

Anakin smiled too, thinking of their first stay in the Lake Country and everything the place meant to them, sliding behind his wife to wrap his arms around her. 

"The Lake Country?" Luke asked, after a moment, looking at them standing together so naturally, his mother leaning back on his father's chest and shoulder... 

"One of the most beautiful places on Naboo," Padmé said, looking up at Anakin as she said it. "A peaceful place, where it's easy to show love to those who need it." She reached up with one hand, resting it along her husband's cheek and jaw. She then looked back at Luke. "Of my family's properties, I'm most attached to it."

They had... other family? His mother had... living parents, maybe siblings? Older relatives, like Biggs' mother's aunts and uncles? "Just from how you speak of it, I know it must be beautiful," he said softly. 

Padmé frowned for a moment, then she gave him the warmest, gentlest look yet. "You're welcome to come there, Luke, if you want." Unspoken was the fact she'd glimpsed that he might be trapped here in a time not his own, depending on how time and changing history played out.

She didn't think of it as being particularly clever, to jump to that conclusion so quickly. She merely applied logic and observations swiftly, as was needed in the political arena she lived in.

"I -- I'd love that," Luke replied softly, her sudden, so-soft smile seeping into the ache where knowing his twin and the rest of his unorthodox family might be forever lost to him was sitting. "Thank you, very much. I... haven't really thought about what 'after' is going to look like for me, I just know it's _got_ to be better for everyone else."

"And you will be part of our family, no matter what, Luke, if you remain." She took a deep breath and then glanced up at Anakin. "Have you fed him today? With no Captain to remind you of these things, I'm not going to be surprised if you haven't eaten, either of you, all day."

"We ate at some point?" Anakin replied before Luke could, "but you're right, it's been a while. However, Milady, I doubt you've done much better, with as long as the Senate was in session..." 

Luke hadn't managed to come up with words to that 'you will be part of our family', he couldn't. It was just... she was so much like Leia. Instantly comforting... 

"Well, Master Jedi, as you did not bring food with you, I suppose we will have to brave my kitchen together," Padmé retorted. "Come on, Luke; you can talk to me about anything you want to while we figure out food," she offered, tangling her hand in Anakin's to guide him to the kitchen… stopped, and laughed. "No, I take that back. Ani, go figure out food while I get out of this ensemble! I swear, I can still remember a time when I bribed Sabé to wear it for me because I hated the weight!"

Luke laughed, shaking his head. "Why don't I take care of something to eat, while you two actually get to spend some time with each other? I know it was hard on you both to make that trip, hiding... everything." 

"Are you sure, Luke, I -- " 

"I'm sure, Father. Mother." 

"We won't abuse the indulgence," Padmé promised, eyes sparkling before she guided her husband to her room, eager now that Luke had pressed.

++++

Master Fisto, not Windu, was the first to know something had suddenly broken, but it was only because he'd come to the Senate by invitation from a small committee, headed by none other than Organa. He felt the change in the chamber, or maybe without, and caught scent of the fear spreading through all the beings present, without any obvious change in the room.

The panic around him made it very difficult to reach out, to try and understand what was coming, yet he persevered, reaching…

Darkness! Encroaching on this building, Kit could feel at least two, if not more, presences that meant nothing but harm to those present. He found himself strangely relieved that Amidala had been excused earlier, as had Chuchi, for they knew his tale and the others did not wish their presence to disrupt his own telling.

That thought, that whisper of the Force, was enough for him to follow instinct, and reach out to the nearest full Jedi, certain there had been intent to harm her.

~SKYWALKER~ Behind that mental shout, he gave all of his will to conveying the darkness surrounding the Senate, the small chamber the committee occupied.

There was a moment of surprise, and then Anakin Skywalker's ferocious determination answered him. And then, a bare moment later, another presence did as well. ~We hear you, Master Fisto. We'll protect her. We'll send you aid, too.~ 

That was Luke, Kit knew, and he smiled across the strangely strong connection. ~It's not me they want, Luke.~

Luke flicked something like 'yes, and?' and dropped out of the connection, turning his attention to his father instead. "Guess it's time to find out if I can really keep up with you..." 

"You're going to do well; you're defending family," Anakin said firmly, his eyes flashing with his determination.

"And both of you are confusing me," Padmé said, having felt them both go away in their thoughts from the meal they had been sharing.

"Sorry, my angel," Anakin told her. "Danger coming; Master Kit just gave warning." He had to reach and settle the sleepy-just-waking presence of his padawan in his mind; she'd reacted to his sudden anger.

"Right, then," Padmé replied, and moved to open the chest where her blasters lay, then tapped her comm to call down to her guards. "Captain; Dormé; there's danger coming. Seal the floors and be ready." 

"Yes, Senator," her captain called back, with Dormé agreeing as swiftly. 

Luke closed his eyes, reaching out, trying to catch any awareness of ill-intent. He was pleased to find his mother was prepared, but he intended to keep the fighting away from her if he could. 

Was that a flicker of intent, outside… 

"They're coming down from the side of the building, onto the platform," Luke said, moving to where he could defend them.

Anakin reached out for a moment, then nodded. "You're right, Luke. Padmé -- " 

"Oh, don't even try," Padmé told him, affectionate and exasperated both. "When have I ever?" 

"Never, my angel, but … " Anakin's eyes dropped to her stomach, briefly, then over to Luke pointedly. "What if our last meeting at the lake was the meeting that made us parents?" he asked her softly, worried over the timing.

Luke looked very startled at that thought. "I never thought to check, Father, and I don't know the exact timing, but the Huttese Trade calendar would suggest the pregnancy is either now or very soon."

Padmé turned pale, the hand not holding a blaster flattening over her stomach before she nodded once. "I -- all right, Ani. You be careful!" 

"It's me?" he offered, before grinning recklessly and leading their son to battle against the intruders seeking to harm his angel.

"That's what I'm afraid of," she whispered, before getting herself into a vantage spot to cover the landing, not quite in sight, on the off-chance something escaped them.

++++

Padmé groaned and made herself move to get dressed. It was far too early, and Anakin had slept through the tingle of her comm, but her shock at the news had awakened him.

"Help me, Ani, so I can get to the Senate floor quickly. Bail will need all my support," she said. "That was Riyo, and she said there was an attack, another one, this time on the Temple last night," she summed up, aware that would make his energy spike frantically. Obi-Wan might not be there, or Ahsoka, but the Temple held the younglings and babies. "They captured a Dathomiri woman who has promised proof of Sidious's identity."

" _Kriff!_ " Anakin swore as he rolled to his feet to help her, stretching out with the Force across the city even as he lent her his hands. "I mean, that can only be good, but still, just..." 

The Temple felt like it was very alert and awake, but he could not feel grief mingled there. Like with the attack here, and the one Kit had foiled at the Senate building, it seemed as if the Jedi had been able to know in advance to defend themselves. Sidious's shadows had fallen, and nothing he was doing had shored them up.

"The dark blue; it laces quickest," Padmé decided, shedding her night clothes for the chosen dress. "I'll pull my hair back and wear one of the head pieces instead that match it." Makeup wasn't happening, not beyond the absolute minimum to obscure her true features. They did not have time for elaborate. She lifted her wrist comm up, keying the floor below. "I need a detail ready in the next ten minutes."

"Yes, Milady," came the answer as Anakin helped her get ready in the early hours of the morning.

"I think everyone's all right," Anakin told her as he returned his attention to his wife, helping her get into her dress and get the headpiece settled, dropping a kiss onto her shoulder before he turned to go and wake Luke. She let him go, quickly setting the white makeup foundation on her skin, readying for the few marks at eye and lips that kept a small measure of privacy preserved.

Anakin opened the guest room… and the bed was empty, though it had been slept in. The room carried a faint Force resonance, yet, nowhere in the apartment felt like _Luke_ any longer.

Standing in the doorway, Anakin stretched out with the Force again, almost despite himself, hoping to find that Luke was still here _somewhere_ , that he wasn't just... gone. He knew he wasn't in the apartment, but perhaps he'd gone out into the complex -- 

\-- but there was nothing. 

Artoo warbled from his protectively watchful spot, curious, and unplugged to come and bump into his legs.

"Did Luke go out, Artoo?" Anakin asked turning to look down at his friend, his head tilting hopefully. "He's not in here."

Artoo whistled a negative, then made a sad, woeful noise, because he liked the man that his Senator and Pilot had adopted.

Padmé came to her doorway at that noise, basic makeup already in place. "Anakin?" she asked, worry tight in her chest.

"...Luke's gone," Anakin replied, his voice quiet, a twist of pain sinking deeper into his chest at the words, at having to say what the Force was already telling him. Now, too late, he remembered Luke talking about the likelihood he would just disappear at some point when things were changed enough that his future simply... wasn't, anymore. He'd ignored that, unwilling to believe the possibility that the Force wouldn't protect him... 

Padmé gave him a long, loving look. "Ani… it means he's never suffered, but that we can remember the man he was, so willing to give all, to save everyone. Focus on that… and go learn what the Temple knows. It might help us if there's at least one Jedi staying in touching with the Senate!" 

She ached too, because Luke had reminded her so much of the best she saw in Anakin, but they had to finish the task, and could not mourn, or it would undo what Luke had given them.

"You... you're right, of course," Anakin told her, dipping his head to kiss her shoulder again, arms wrapping low around her waist for a moment before he headed for the Temple with Artoo. 

She smiled after them, before going to begin the task of ending Chancellor Palpatine's reign for all time.


End file.
